National / Education Panyaza Lesufi loses fight on English-speaking kids in Afrikaans school BL PREMIUM

Gauteng education MEC Panyaza Lesufi has lost his battle to force Hoërskool Overvaal‚ an Afrikaans medium school‚ to take 55 English-speaking pupils. In a unanimous judgment‚ the Constitutional Court dismissed Lesufi’s appeal and backed the decision made by the Pretoria High Court. The court refused to even hear the case‚ saying it had no prospect of success. It also ruled that the education department must pay the school’s legal fees. In January‚ Hoërskool Overvaal‚ went to court to block the education department’s attempts to force it to enrol the 55 pupils. The court found in the school’s favour. On Thursday‚ the Constitutional Court said Lesufi had not given sufficient consideration to whether or not there was capacity at either the General Smuts and Phoenix high schools‚ which both offer English tuition and fall in the same feeder zone as Hoërskool Overvaal. Lesufi had accused the school of racism, even though it had both black and white pupils. The school said at the time it c...