Pretoria - The mother of a former learner at an independent school, who proclaimed in a letter that she was lesbian and had an affair with a fellow learner, asked the high court to intervene after her child allegedly got the boot from the school because of her sexual orientation.
However, the school in White River, Mpumalanga, which was not named to protect the former learner’s identity, claimed she was never kicked out.
According to the school’s management, they simply asked the mother to come and fetch the child as she needed “motherly love”.
The mother earlier turned to the Equality Court, as she felt the school had discriminated against her child.
The commissioner of the Equality Court, however, found that there was no evidence of any wrongdoing on the part of the school.
The mother then turned to the Mpumalanga High Court, sitting in Mbombela, where she appealed against the ruling.
A judge of this court found that the Equality Court should have heard the matter to the end and not cleared the school.
The school launched the application to have its name cleared after the learner and her mother presented their evidence. The school felt there was no evidence necessitating it to produce evidence to defend itself.
A Mpumalanga judge, however, ordered that the Equality Court had to hear the matter afresh, which includes the school presenting its side of the story.
The legal wrangle was sparked by a telephone call the mother received in May 2019, four months after her daughter was enrolled at the school.
The mother lived and worked in Gauteng, while her daughter went to school in Mpumalanga.
The mother was summoned by the school to attend an urgent meeting to discuss her daughter. At this meeting, she was shown a letter written by her daughter wherein she disclosed her sexual orientation and that she was dating a girl.
The school asked the mother to take the child home with her. It was intimated that such conduct could not be allowed at the school.
When the mother asked whether her daughter was suspended or expelled, the headmistress replied no, but said that she needed to go with the mother as she “needs motherly love, to heal”.
The headmistress told the mother she would assist with a transfer letter for the child to enable the mother to find a school close to where they lived.
The mother was also told that her daughter’s class test marks could be used to make up her final exam mark in June 2019. She was also given the option to complete her June exams (Term 2) from June 7, 2019, at her own pace.
The suggested date of June 7 was the day after the school had closed. It was explained to the mother that it was better for her daughter to write her exams in the absence of the other learners “to avoid victimisation”.
The mother said the reason given to her by the school for “fetching” her daughter was because the child needed “motherly love”, but according to her, the real reason was that the school did not approve of her sexual orientation. Thus, she said, her daughter was discriminated against.
Pretoria News