Four Northern Cape school boys will appear in court on Friday on charges of raping and assaulting a fellow-pupil at their hostel, Beeld reported.

A group of white boys grabbed a black boy and subjected him to inhumane torture on Sunday, education department spokesman Sydney Stander reportedly told the newspaper.

"He was stripped and painted white. After that he was sodomised with a stick. Boys who watched, cheered them on," he was quoted as saying.

According to the newspaper, Stander said the department had sent a team to support the victim, his family, teachers and other pupils at the Hoer Landbouskool Noord-Kaapland, and North West education MEC Griezelda Cjiekella-Lecholo apologised to the victim's family.

Police spokeswoman Dimakatso Mooi reportedly said the boy was stripped and his hands and feet were bound as part of an initiation process. He was then attacked.

Beeld reported that the boy's mother said the attack should not be seen exclusively as racist. "An attack like this can take place in the same group."

But, the boy had been racially humiliated and bullied since he started Grade 12 at the beginning of the year.

"He is broken, but strong enough to speak about the ordeal. He does not want this to happen to another child," she was quoted as saying. He would not return to the school.