ANC MPL demands full Brackenfell High matric party report

The ANC in the Western Cape legislature is demanding the full report into the controversial matric party that started all the trouble at Brackenfell High in Cape Town.

Member of the Provincial Legislature Khalid Sayed said he had submitted a Promotion of Access to Information application to the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) to get the full report.

“The ANC wants to study the full actual report of the WCED to give proper comment on this matter of institutionalised racism and assess its way forward on this crucial question,” Sayed said in a statement.

“Given the importance of tackling racism in our educational institutions, the ANC is very disturbed that the MEC [Debbie Schäfer] refuses to make the report public, but only gave her version thereof.”

The demand comes after a lengthy controversy over whether black people were excluded from a Brackenfell High matric farewell function.

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The allegation raised the ire of the EFF and eventually led to police trying to disperse a massive group of protesters trying to descend on the school to show their disapproval. Previously, a smaller group of EFF supporters and some parents and residents clashed as the EFF tried to approach.

Schäfer has stated that, according to the department’s investigation, the matric party was not a school event, as reported, but was privately arranged by a parent who had wanted to do something special for her child and some of the child’s friends after the matric farewell was cancelled.

The R500-a-ticket event at a wine farm was arranged for 17 October.

Schäfer said the invitation was widely circulated via WhatsApp groups. She also said the parent had asked class representatives to circulate it to their class WhatsApp groups and the principal had confirmed with them that they had done so.

READ MORE: Court again postpones Brackenfell school’s EFF protest interdict bid

“The invitation was also posted on the parent organiser’s Facebook page, so was open to people outside Brackenfell High as well. As a result, there were 42 learners from Brackenfell High School and 30 from other surrounding schools who attended,” Schäfer said.

“A separate WhatsApp group was started for those who had replied that they wished to attend. This would explain the allegations of some who claim to have been excluded from a WhatsApp group,” Schäfer said.

She disputed allegations that the head girl did not attend because no pupils of colour were attending.

“According to the report, both the head girl and head boy were invited, but did not attend, as they had other plans on that day and were organising their own farewell functions,” Schäfer said.

However, Sayed is insisting on seeing the original report.

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