The EFF on Wednesday welcomed the dismissal of the principal of a school in Bloemfontein, where the old South African flag and pictures of party leader Julius Malema were displayed alongside monkeys.

"This sets an example to both learners and unaffected spectators that indeed it is wrong to reduce black people to monkeys and hold on to the old apartheid symbols, racial exploitation and exclusion," Economic Freedom Fighters spokesman Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said in a statement.

He said schools and education centres should be at "the pinnacle of embracing democratic and human rights values".

Beeld reported on Wednesday that Fanie Roeloffze, the principal of Wilgehof Primary, was sacked on Tuesday.

Earlier this month a disciplinary hearing by the Free State education department found him guilty of not doing anything about the displays in a classroom.

His representative Marius van Rensburg said they would appeal the decision. He said the finding was a shock, as lighter sentences had been given to teachers found guilty of more serious offences.

Two teachers were suspended in connection with the matter. The outcome of their cases was not immediately known.

Ndlozi said racism existed in many white communities as they displayed "old apartheid flags, open referral to domestic and farmworkers as k*****s, and satirical reduction of blacks into animals."

"All these acts which are an open offence on the humanity of black people go on uninterrupted and unpunished."

He called upon South Africans to act against "anti-black racism".

"This country must be one place in the world where blacks can live proudly and fearlessly as blacks without any apology for their race."