"Hands off my heritage, my pride and my identity" - these were the words echoed by Malibu High School pupils in Blue Downs.
Scores of pupils sang and chanted in protest against what they call “racist rule” after “black girls” were told that their “hair is outrageous” and they “look like trees”.
When Weekend Argus arrived at the school on Friday morning, a fight broke out between the pupils and the school’s caretaker, who allegedly attempted to intimidate reporters on school grounds.
“He is one of the racists,” said the pupils as they pulled the caretaker away from reporters.
In a voice recording, the caretaker is heard telling the angry group that they had not been born with Afros: “Only apes and bears were born with Afros. Were you born with that hair?” he asks.
Angry Malibu High School kids protest after learners were suspended for having untidy hair. Picture: Ayanda Ndamane / African News Agency
Pupils from grades 10 to 12 alleged they had been told by the principal that their “outrageous hair needed to be kept in plaits or tied up”.
Luxolo Mlonyeni, a Grade 11 pupil, said the school’s actions were in violation of the pupils’ rights.
“This is pure racism. What does our hair have to do with our learning? We are the ones with Afros, we are the ones with braids and we are the ones pulled out of lines and told that we look
like trees. We cannot stand for this. What they are doing to us is wrong,” she said.
Lizalise Cele, a Grade 10 pupil, said: “We are taught IsiXhosa at this school, yet we are told we can not speak our own language on the grounds. Then the principal also tells us, the black boys, that we can not let our hair grow, yet the coloured children are allowed to grow theirs. He is trying to divide us,” said the boy.
Achumile Qobo said: “My hair is my heritage, it is my crown; why should the school dictate to me how to wear it? We are not here for hair, we are here to learn and that is what they should focus on, teaching us,” she said.
According to the pupils, most of them had been given notices to attend a disciplinary hearing on Wednesday. The notices say the girls were not adhering to the school’s code of conduct.
Angry Malibu High School learners were told their hair looks untidy. Photographer Ayanda Ndamane/African News Agency
Western Cape Education Department spokesperson Millicent Merton said the letters were not to do with the pupils’ hair, but had been issued “because they showed disrespect when addressed by the principal”.
“The hair policy will be escalated to the governing body for a review and the outcome will be mediated with the rest of the school community,” she said.
The school principal refused to speak to reporters.
Weekend Argus