The Gauteng department of education is puzzled by the Hoërskool Overvaal’s insistence on refusing to admit 55 learners because evidence shows that it has space.

Parents of the learners denied access to the Vereeniging school are adamant that the only reason the school does not want their children are because they are black.

The school approached the High Court in Pretoria to overturn the Gauteng education department’s administrative decision forcing the school to accept an additional 55 pupils from the area.

The school’s governing body argues in court papers that the school is full and has no capacity to accommodate learners.

But the department’s spokesperson‚ Steve Mabona‚ said this was not true as the school currently had 621 learners and that they had evidence that the school had a capacity to accommodate over 800 learners.

Mabona said they did not instruct the school to change its medium of instruction‚ which is Afrikaans‚ but only that it adopt a dual medium of instruction to accommodate English.

“We do not understand why the school would not want to admit our learners there because we said we are supporting them‚ offered to give them an educator‚ learner material is there‚ so we do not understand why there would be any resistance to accommodate other learners‚” he said.

Mabona said the school was dwindling in numbers but it denied access to learners “utilising the language (policy) to preclude their right”.

Thoriso Mofokeng‚ a parent of one of the barred learners and chairperson of Hoërskool Overvaal Transformation Committee‚ said the school’s attitude was motivated by racial prejudice.

He said the matter was important because the school was the only high school in the area‚ which covered about six suburbs.

Mofokeng said other high schools were more than 15km away and some learners from the area had to wake up as early as 4am to prepare for school which started at 7.45am.

He said some parents spend about R6‚000 every month for their children to go to schools outside the area‚ passing Hoërskool Overvaal on their way every day.

“It is unfortunate that from where they are sitting and observed‚ this is nothing but a racial issue. There is high racism taking place in the area and we believe that they are doing so in order to deny our children to access the school‚” he said.

Mofokeng added that the school denied access to learners from the area but accommodated white learners from as far as Vanderbijlpark‚ Falcon Ridge and Parys.

On Tuesday‚ Judge Bill Prinsloo postponed the matter to Thursday to afford himself as well as the department’s lawyer‚ Kumbirai Toma‚ time to peruse the school’s replying affidavit.