A South African lesbian couple is being told to break up or their son will be expelled from school.

Samantha and Kally Mabe, a legally married couple, have claimed they were called to a meeting at their five-year-old son’s school and were told their homosexuality was ‘problematic’.

Secunda Highveld Christian School in Mpumalanga allegedly accused the Mabes of lying about their relationship in the school’s application letter.

Speaking to The Star, Kally said: ‘We never hid the fact that [our son] has two mothers and I filled in my details under the section in the form that asks for his mother’s details and Sam filled in the area that said ‘Father/Guardian’, but filled in her title as Mrs’.

When their son told a teacher he had two mothers, the couple was summoned to a meeting with the principal and a pastor last month.

She said: ‘The pastor said if they had known we were a lesbian couple, they would never have allowed our son in the school.

‘He said the school was a Christian private school that offered alternative education of Christian values for children of normal husbands and wives, and that we were trying to rewrite the school rules and compromising their values.

‘He said I could either walk away from my lifestyle and have him stay at the school, or I should take the child out of the school, because he was worried that other children would make fun of him or isolate him.’

After the couple refused to break up or take their son out of school, the pastor allegedly threatened to take legal action.

While Secunda Highveld Christian School declined to comment, Mpumalanga’s education department spokesman Jasper Zwane said he is taking the claims seriously.

‘We view such matters in a very serious light, and even though the school is independent, we will still find out what happened and make sure that whoever worked outside the legal framework is brought to book,’ he said.

On the independent school’s website, it says they ‘instil traditional moral values and Biblical principles in the life of each student’.