“These girls were not given support because the learner was found guilty of racism during the disciplinary hearings but he came back to school and continued his alleged racial slurs.

“We need to start criminally charging schools for negligence due to what is happening with our children and even principals should face arrest.

“The allegations were of such a serious nature, they were supposed to react immediately but there is no prevention.”

Bronagh Hammond of the WCED confirmed that the matter went through a disciplinary hearing in which the male learner was found guilty.

“It is not clear if the “new case” relates to the allegations from last year, or if there are new allegations not directly linked to the school as there have been no incidents reported lately.,” she explained.

“The school had been informed that the SAPS case regarding last year’s incident was closed.

“Last year, on hearing the allegations, the school immediately followed all the necessary protocols. They instituted disciplinary procedures, filled out the necessary forms which were sent to social workers and contacted all the parents of those involved in the case.

“The learners who had lodged complaints were invited to a special meeting with the Family Violence Child Protection unit of SAPS. This was attended by some of the learners and their parents.

“The parents were informed of the disciplinary case and that they could testify on a specific date. Some parents opted not to testify and withdrew their child’s statements.

“All witnesses were accompanied by parents.”

She further explained that the original two learners who made the complaint did not testify, nor did they attend the meeting with SAPS.

“The SGB has found the learner guilty of serious misconduct, and sanctions have been determined, which included suspension,” she said,

When asked about how many bullying incidents were reported, she explained: “ Quarter on last year, we had 32 cases of bullying (2024)

In January -February of 2025, we have received 23 incidents of alleged bullying.”

Hammond said they worked hard to change the narrative and give support to learners who were being bullied.

“School psychological services, school social work services and safe schools programme respond to all learner referrals that were affected by incidents of bullying in schools. District based support teams visit the schools and determine an intervention support programme for both the victim(s) and the alleged perpetrators,” she said.

“The WCED liaises within Safe Schools to supplement the services from department-employed psychologists and social workers by working with the Department of Health, Department of Social Development, and NGOs (such as CASE in Hanover Park/Manenberg).”

She added that one of the most prevalent forms of bullying is social media bullying, otherwise known as cyber-bullying – whereby hundreds (if not thousands) of people can share or like a post that can be harmful to you or another person.

Earlier this week, during a press conference with the media, the South African Human Rights Commission said they were part of interventions involving racism and bullying.

Cape Argus

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