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Western Cape Superior Court. (Ashraf Hendricks, GroundIp)
Brackenfell High School has argued in the Western Cape Superior Court that the Economic Freedom Fighters have a “history of violence,” while the party responded by saying the school was not treating racism as seriously as it should.
The Cape Town School Board of Trustees (SGB) filed an injunction request last month against the EFF protesting outside the school grounds.
This after multiple protests near the school premises in recent weeks that ended in violence.
In court Monday, footage of the 1,000-person EFF protest, which saw chaos on the streets of the northern suburb last month, was played during the proceedings.
An amateur cameraman said “look at how they run” as the footage showed protesters fleeing while stun grenades were fired.
Western Cape Superior Court Judge Siraj Desai described the comments included in the clips and photos from last month’s violent protest in Brackenfell as “endemic triumphalism in an arrogant society.”
“Why are you showing me this in my court?” Offended Desai asked attorney Marius Verster about the school.
READ | Brackenfell High: Education department finds no evidence that a ‘private party’ excluded students on the basis of race
Verster responded that he disagreed with the comments, but was using the clip to show that the EFF had failed to comply with the conditions imposed by the City of Cape Town by granting them permission to protest.
The school had persisted with its request as the EFF had threatened to continue its action.
EFF defender Dali Mpofu said that while children should be protected, it should be about “absorbing racism”, not “protecting them from stun grenades.”
He noted that it was common cause that the EFF had twice peacefully protested against racism in November, the second time being targeted by “racism hooligans and vigilantes.”
And while the school in a statement a day after the violence described the attack on party members as “shameful”, Mpofu noted that on the same day it had approached the Western Cape Superior Court, “to intercept the victims.”
“It’s a typical South African reaction,” Mpofu said, criticizing what he called the “boldness” of the app. He argued that it should be discarded as “frivolous”.
“Racism is violence. It is the worst form of violence. It cannot be perpetrated without violence or the threat of it.”
‘EFF has a history of violence’
But according to Verster, the EFF has a history of violence, commenting that they even “have the word fighter in their name.”
Desai dismissed this as introducing an “irrelevant factor.”
“They also have economic in their name. Isn’t this also an important factor in one of the most unequal countries in the world?” I ask.
Mpofu argued that it was a fact that there had been a party that only white people attended.
He said an affidavit filed with the court showed that the director had known about the party before it happened. It was also common cause that three teachers had attended, he said.
READ ALSO | Brackenfell: School EFF protest injunction offer postponed again
“The school, at its worst, is guilty of acquiescence,” he argued, saying that racism was not being treated as a crime as serious as it should be. “
Desai agreed, saying that if attendees had smoked dagga at the party, the school would certainly have stepped in, questioning why this was not the case if the racism was apparent.
Before the recent mass meeting, Desai had refused to grant the SGB an urgent injunction after the EFF pledged not to disrupt school activities before the full case was heard.
The party had requested and been granted permission to organize its legal protest, with a limit of 100 participants.
The Western Cape Education Department confirmed in a statement Monday that its investigation had found that no student was excluded from attending the private party because of their race.
MEC Debbie Schäfer said her investigation corroborated reports that the event, which took place on a wine farm, was a private function, hosted by a parent.
Desai said the matter was sensitive, as it “marks the recurrence of the inference of racism in schools.”
The matter was postponed until December 22 for trial.
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