Pretoria north private school allegedly operating ‘illegally’

The north of Pretoria community has set Facebook abuzz with allegations that a local private school operated “illegally”.

And according to Steve Mabona, spokesperson for the Department of Basic Education, Northridge Academy is not registered with them and hence might be operating illegally, Rekord North reports.

Amy Barr-Sander of the Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa said that the school was not registered with them either.

However, principal Simone Fourie told the media that they had “nothing to hide”.

“We are not an illegal school; we are registered with Impaq.”

Impaq spokesperson Nico Jacobs said that the academy was registered with them as a “tutor centre” not a school and that it had only three learners according to the organisation – two matrics and a Grade 11 learner.

Fourie explained to the media that parents at her centre had the option to enrol their children at Impaq themselves or via the academy.

Another Facebook user claimed that the academy is not the only “illegal” school run by Fourie.

The user alleged that Fourie was involved with Credo Deo Akademie, which was shut down by the department in 2014 when it was found to be operating illegally, another allegation she denied.

“It is completely untrue,” Fourie said but declined to discuss the matter further.

Yet another Facebook user alleged that Fourie owed the operator of the tuck shop at the school “thousands of rands”.

“We are still in a dispute regarding the money,” Fourie countered.

Fourie said that she would interdict the man who was making the Facebook allegations against her, lay a charge of harassment and sue him for defamation of character.