Panyaza Lesufi promises no more racism at Cornwall Hill College

Pretoria – Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi has promised black learners and their parents that racism and mistreatment would no longer take place at Cornwall Hill College.

Lesufi was speaking at the school as parents and some learners gathered for a mass protest against racism at the school and the lack of commitment to transformation by the school’s leadership.

The MEC took the opportunity to thank the parents for standing up for their children and the school’s leadership for recognising that something was not right at the school.

He said following his discussions with the leadership of the school his message was simply for them to go back to the negotiation table and work towards building non-racialism.

“In protecting this school we must not protect the wrong things and we must do so by promoting non-racialism which is the future. We don’t want revenge we just want to be together.”

Lesufi said the school had assured his department that there was no need to bring in their legislative arm or whatever power the government has, as together with the parents they could resolve this.

He also emphasised to the school to stop their obsession with children’s hair as everyone was human and deserved to be happy.

Lesufi made the comments following an emotional recollection by one of the learners who told of how she was first told her hair was unkempt and, “simply not the Cornwall Hill way”, in Grade 4.

“We don’t want to enter the premises of our schools and be reminded of our history or who we are. We want to enter this school and build a South Africa we can be proud of.

Lesufi promised the learners at the school that racism would end and would not take place any further, that no one would be mistreated and that the school would have teachers who represented everyone at the school.

Pretoria News