Cape school drops out of court battle

Cape Town - One of the schools at the centre of the school closures court battle has withdrawn from the case, opting to rather close its doors.

Urionskraal NGK Primary in Van Rhynsdorp, with 34 pupils, sent a letter to the Western Cape Education Department on Thursday which said a meeting had been held at the school in April to discuss its closure.

“At the meeting, it was unanimously agreed that it is in the best interest of the students, teachers and parents if the school was closed by the end of the second quarter, June 30, 2013.”

But a number of parents sent an affidavit three days later to say they still wished to continue with the case.

This emerged on Monday in the Western Cape High Court where a full Bench of judges – Andre le Grange, Lee Bozalek and Nape Dolamo – are hearing a review of Education MEC Donald Grant’s decision to close 20 of the 27 schools which had been identified for possible closure last year.

The parents’ affidavit read: “We declare, as parents of learners from Urionskraal Primary in Van Rhynsdorp, that we oppose the closure of the school.

“The court matter must therefore continue.

“The school principal did not consult us.”

A critical question in on Monday’s proceedings was whether the department had fulfilled the requirements in terms of section 33 of the South African Schools Act, which dealt with public hearings and allowing communities to make representations.

Norman Arendse, representing the schools, said: “The public hearings were a sham.

“The public hearings did not contribute at all.”

He described the hearings as “weird”, “awkward” and “quite frankly, absurd”.

Arendse said department officials had simply “acted as recorders” rather than interact or debate.

“The school closure process was not one of integrity, it was neither credible, nor reliable, nor trustworthy, and certainly it was not transparent.”

Arendse also argued that Grant had given a set of reasons for the closure of some schools and later changed these reasons or added reasons.

Grant initially considered closing 27 schools but decided to close 20.

Eighteen of these, along with their governing bodies, took the matter to court.

It later emerged that their lawyers did not have instructions for one of the schools, Tonko Bosman Primary in Somerset West.

The two schools not part of the litigation were Hoopsrivier NGK Primary near Robertson and Langkloof Primary near Riversdale.

Judge Siraj Desai, whose judgment last year was agreed to by Judge Elizabeth Baartman, found that the procedure had fallen short of what was expected in a public consultation process.

In a minority judgment, Judge Dennis Davis found that the act distinguished between the concept of representations, which was called for, and a process of consultation.

michelle.jones@inl.co.za

Cape Times