“You are a bully” students tell principal

These are some of the issues raised in a list of demands that the students have written and handed over to the Metro East Education District this afternoon. The discontent at the school has culminated in a number of protests over the past two weeks, with the particular focus being on their principal Ayanda Mbava.

After Mbava allegedly refused to address the students’ demands today, a group of about 30 students, accompanied by Equal Education organisers, marched on the Metro East Education District offices in Kuils River.

One of the buses that transported the students was refused entry to the premises by security guards, which resulted in the students forcing the gate open so that their classmates could join them. They then sang outside the offices until they were allowed to read out their demands to the Acting District Director Benjamin Schereka.

Schereka told the students that he needed time to discuss the demands with the various stakeholders but that he took the demands seriously.

“As the Acting Director of this district I am responsible for every learner. The buck stops with me,” he told the students.

It was agreed that Schereka would have a meeting with Mbava on Monday and then get back to the students with a response by 3pm on Monday.

Earlier this week four students from Iqhayiya spoke to GroundUp about the problems at their school.

“They beat us like hell,” said Mibongo Siyokwana, a Grade 10 student at Iqhayiya. He said that the teachers hit the students with hosepipes, canes and belts.

The students said that they were beaten for offenses such as not doing homework, being absent, failing a test or wearing the incorrect uniform.

Siyokwana pointed to his black trousers and said, “If you are wearing black trousers [instead of the prescribed grey] they will take you to the toilets and beat you.”

Iqhayiya is a no fee school but students claim that their parents are made to pay a yearly R200 “contribution” and without this contribution they will not receive their reports.

When asked why their parents had not raised this with the principal, GroundUp was told that their parents were “also scared of Mrs Mbava”.

Mbava is accused of disrespecting learners’ parents.

“If you have done something [wrong] in the school, Mrs Mbava will call your parent to come. Your parent will wait from 8am to 2:30pm. It is not about her being busy. She is the commander to our parents,” said Siyokwana.

Students also claim that their computer rooms are never open. Litha Ncipha, a Grade 11 student, said that they do not have access to the computer rooms. Siyokwana added that the teachers cannot use the computer rooms either.

The four students who spoke to GroundUp are members of Equal Education but said that Mbava had told students that they are not allowed to be members of any organisations other than the Congress of South African Students (COSAS).

On their list of demands they write, “Everyone has a right to join any organisation that they feel comfortable and you are violating that right. You are a bully and that is unacceptable”.

Another demand on the students’ list concerns Mbava allegedly sending students away from school if their parents miss meetings that are held at the beginning of term where they receive their reports.

Students also claim that the school received R2 million for an upgrade but that this has not been done.

The protests began at Iqhayiya last week when Grade 9 students refused to write the Western Cape Education Department’s systemic tests. The tests assess maths and language skills of the students, but they have not been well received by many parents and schools around the province. Students from Iqhayiya marched to Bulumko High School where the situation turned into chaos and a student from Bulumko was stabbed.

This protest appeared to lead to students voicing other concerns that they had, and on Monday this week they decided to write up a list of demands to give to Mbava. When students attempted to speak to Mbava on Tuesday they claim that Mbava would not allow them to hand over the list.

After Mbava’s refusal to meet with the students, a protest began within the school grounds.

“We decided as the leaders that we must organise the learners and give them our feedback because the learners really wanted the answers. So they decided that we are going to make a protest. We told the learners that it must be a peaceful protest, we want nothing to be damaged,” said Ncipha.

Once they began protesting the students claim that police arrived and ordered the students to go back to their classes or leave the premises. When the students refused, Ncipha said that he and Siyokwana were put into a police van.

Once the two students were arrested the other students began to throw stones at the police vans. “The streets were on fire,” said a Grade 10 student who did not want to be named, recalling how students were burning things on the road.

The students explained how the police then opened fire with rubber bullets and stun grenades. Siyokwana and Ncipha claim that they were then driven around in the police van for a number of hours. When they finally arrived at Lingelethu West police station they were met by their parents and Mbava. They were then released without charge, but warned not to protest again.

Mbava directed all requests for comment to the Western Cape Department of Education. A department official told GroundUp that the department will respond once the meetings between various stakeholders have been concluded on Monday.

Read the student demands.