Lobby group March and March has continued its protest outside Addington Primary School in Durban, demanding that 40 learners affected by recent floods be accommodated at the school.
The protest has persisted since the start of the new academic year, despite an ongoing investigation into a case of incitement to violence allegedly involving the movement’s leader, Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma.
March and March has accused the school of prioritising children of foreign nationals over South African learners. However, the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education has maintained that Addington Primary has reached full capacity and that the affected learners have been placed at schools in neighbouring areas.
Parents have rejected this solution, saying transporting children to alternative schools is not financially viable. One parent said they had submitted all the required documentation but were told no space was available at Addington Primary.
“They are saying the children must go to Greyville Primary, but for a parent who has to take a bus to Greyville, how are they going to afford that? Some of these children are as young as Grade 2 or 3. We want them in the nearest school, and this is the nearest school to them,” the parent said.
Another parent questioned the school’s admissions process, claiming South African learners are being sidelined. “Out of more than 1 500 learners, more than 900 are foreigners. Does that mean South Africans must become a minority in their own school?” the parent asked.
Meanwhile, Ngobese-Zuma said the movement has managed to get some of the learners onto the school premises and warned that legal action would follow if the children are not formally registered.
She said community members had raised funds to purchase school uniforms and bags for some of the learners. “We bought 26 uniforms and bags and put the children inside the school because it is their democratic right to education,” Ngobese-Zuma said.
She added that the group would continue bringing the learners to the school daily and would seek an interdict to compel the school to admit them should management refuse registration.
The Department of Education has not yet commented further on the matter.