Learner treated like dief

A Crawford mother says her 16-year-old son is being victimised at Rhodes High School after he was wrongfully branded a thief.

Simone Redelinghuys says her son, who is in Grade 10, was accused of stealing a cellphone from a fellow learner on 23 September but has not been given the chance to prove his innocence.

“My son was playing soccer with a few of the other boys and afterwards one of them said their phone was gone and ‘it must have been the coloured boy’, which was my son.

“After he said it was not him, they took his bag and he had to get other boys to fetch it,” the angry mom says.

Simone says her son was informed by the school that he will face a disciplinary hearing but the family is still waiting for this meeting to happen.

“When I went to the school the next week, we were told that the parents of the boy accusing my son were not there,” adds Simone.

“After that, the hearing kept getting pushed back because somebody was either sick or something like that.

“While my son was writing his social science exam last week, he was called out of the room to get handed another letter, stating he has a hearing. Why did they not email the letter to me or at least wait till he was done writing?

“This whole thing has really affected him mentally because he is being called a thief.

“If he fails this year, then I will take serious action against the school.”

When the Daily Voice contacted the school on Tuesday, a staff member said: “Various issues have prevented the hearing from happening but the school is in contact with the parent.”

Bronagh Hammond, spokesperson for Western Cape Education, said the department was unaware of the issue but is now in contact with the school.

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