Defend Truth

Opinionista

Back to School: Walking hand in hand with the children

mm

Andrew Ihsaan Gasnolar was born in Cape Town and raised by his determined mother, grandparents, aunt and the rest of his maternal family. He is an admitted attorney (formerly of the corporate hue), with recent exposure in the public sector, and is currently working on transport and infrastructure projects. He is a Mandela Washington Fellow, a Mandela Rhodes Scholar, and a WEF Global Shaper. He had a brief stint in the contemporary party politic environment working for Mamphela Ramphele as Agang CEO and chief-of-staff; he found the experience a deeply educational one.

The start of this week has seen journalists, politicians and parents return to school. They did so only because young women had made a call to action. A call which was powerful, articulate and true. A call which was far more than just about a hair or language policy but rather a call to confront our past and present injustices.

The young women at Pretoria Girls High made the choice to challenge a system that they felt oppressed and made them less. What we have witnessed is a system being challenged once again by young people. A system that in their view made them less by “othering” them. The very othering that South Africa perfected during colonialism and apartheid yet has failed meaningfully to confront or arrest.

The events at Pretoria Girls High have reminded me of my own experiences with hair policies and what was acceptable as neat or appropriate in order to meet the standards of tradition.

I spent five years in a former Model C school in the leafy suburbs of Cape Town because my family wanted their first son, their first grandson and their first nephew to have better opportunities than they were allowed to find in the schooling system of the Cape Flats.

The first time I actually walked in Rondebosch as a black South African was the day of my interview to get into that high school in 1997. Those leafy suburbs were alien and foreign territory. The first time I actually walked in Rondebosch as a black South African was the day of my interview to get into that high school.

I was one of a small minority of black South Africans who co-inhabited the school although I always felt that I was just a visitor, never really part of its fabric. That school, like Pretoria Girls High, was built on traditions and a culture that were not my own or that of my fellow black South Africans. After all, my own heritage was rooted in the Cape Malay history, my ancestors were brought to South Africa and enslaved by the colonialist through the Dutch East India Company, and my heritage and culture were not reflected anywhere I looked.

The issue we see at schools like Pretoria Girls High is not simply about a uniform or language policy or about a hair policy but about the normative culture simply being pushed down the throats of free-thinking and vibrant young South Africans.

We must do better to honour the richness of our history. We cannot simply kowtow to notions of tradition. We must be able to confront the inefficiencies we see, especially when the systemic oppression and marginalisation of black South Africans continues.

South Africa’s history and past is far too intricate and nuanced for us to blindly accept tradition as the holy grail. The young women in Pretoria have demonstrated the depth, resolve and richness of their own thinking. They speak for themselves and they do so loudly. The conduct of those young women is not simply motivated by self-interest but by the need to articulate their own lived experiences freely and openly.

South Africa is quick to forget the importance of these conversations. It is probably made easy because our news cycle and attention span are often consumed by talk of credit downgrades or Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma or the Guptas or the Economic Freedom Fighters or the Democratic Alliance. However, the young women from Pretoria High Girls prove that South Africans are far more exceptional in articulating their own truth and issues than any politician could ever be able to.

We must not forget that many politicians were surprised by the movements that formed around #RhodesMustFall and #FeesMustFall. Those very people, apparently entrusted to understand the pulse of the country, were shocked and surprised that young South Africans could mobilise so effectively and effortlessly around a central message. A message that was not party political or partisan. A message that was not confined to the tired labels that political parties cling to. Instead, the message and resolve were clear – and it was about addressing and calling for structural changes and introducing identity back into the national conversation.

The events at Pretoria Girls High cannot simply be an inspirational story of young women standing up. That would be an exercise in glossing over the hard parts of this lived experience.

Young South Africans are being subjected to conduct that is anti-black. They are being threatened that police intervention, that is, our taxpayers’ money, will be used against them in an attempt to silence them. It is absurd and offensive to think that young women in school are such a threat when they speak up and we somehow need to involve the police.

It is easy to forget the human face. But we must not let them forget. We cannot simply try to spin this into a narrative that forgets that the lived realities of South Africans are being trampled on every single day. This is not an escalation in racist or anti-black conduct but instead this is just what happens when we now have the ability to shine a spotlight on deplorable conduct and when South Africans are willing to confront this brutal system.

We should not simply accept suggestions that this is an isolated incident or confined to a particular type of school. This is not something that can simply be resolved by School Governing Bodies or by better participation by parents in those bodies.

We cannot carry that badge of inaction forward at the expense of South Africa’s future. South Africans must wrestle with this opportunity to break free from a suppressive narrative of a “Rainbow Nation” or tradition.

We must follow the example set by young people like those at Pretoria Girls High who are willing to do the hard work of speaking up. This should be about change and the urgent need to confront the normative culture that is often anti-black. This is about young South Africans choosing to lead.

We must start walking with them instead of trying to silence them. DM

Gallery

Please peer review 3 community comments before your comment can be posted

Every seed of hope will one day sprout.

South African citizens throughout the country are standing up for our human rights. Stay informed, connected and inspired by our weekly FREE Maverick Citizen newsletter.