The Gauteng High Court has shut down the Pretoria High School for Girls (PHSG) school governing body’s (SGB) attempt to appeal a ruling that denied it access to a 2024 report into allegations of racism at the school.
In a judgment delivered on December 17, Judge Graham Moshoana ruled that the decision the SGB wanted to appeal was purely procedural and not appealable.
He said allowing the appeal would only delay the main case and serve no purpose.
The court also rejected claims that the SGB’s review application could not proceed without the report, saying there were other legal avenues to obtain documents and that a review case focuses on whether public power was exercised lawfully.
In dismissing the application for leave to appeal, Moshoana ordered the SGB to pay legal costs, including the fees of senior and junior counsel, finding that the appeal had no reasonable prospects of success.
“Because of all the above reasons, the application for leave to appeal falls to be dismissed,” the judgment reads.
“This court has already debunked the myth that a review is incapable of being prosecuted without the report.”
The judge said that even if he was mistaken in finding the order non-appealable, the application still failed on its merits because it did not meet the test set out in Section 17(1) of the Superior Courts Act.
Allegations of racism
Moshoana was particularly scathing about the SGB’s handling of the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) process, saying it had undermined its case by rushing to court.
Using a football analogy, he said the SGB had “handed itself a red card”.
“It is common cause that before instituting review proceedings, the applicant initiated a PAIA request.
“What this court observed was that after realising obstacles in a PAIA process, the applicant resorted to court proceedings.”
The dispute stems from racism allegations made against 12 PHSG learners.
At the time, the Gauteng education department said the learners allegedly complained about black pupils in a “whites-only” WhatsApp group and made statements with racial connotations, including so-called microaggressions.
A 13th learner was also charged after allegedly making racial remarks about white learners in a TikTok video posted during Black History Month in February 2024.
She too was cleared at a disciplinary hearing.
Dissatisfied with that outcome, Gauteng MEC for education Matome Chiloane commissioned a fresh investigation under the Gauteng School Education Act.
The independent probe conducted by Mdladlamba Attorneys recommended charging the school’s principal and deputy principal with misconduct.
The SGB then went to court to force the MEC to release the full report, which had been publicised by the department but not handed over to the school.
SGB’s attempts bite the dust
However, the SGB’s attempt to prevent the department from acting on the report until a review was complete was unsuccessful.
The SGB also unsuccessfully challenged the MEC’s decision to commission the investigation and the report itself.
The SGB claimed Mdladlamba Attorneys found no clear evidence of racism, apart from an unsubstantiated allegation that white educators do not greet black colleagues.
It described this as “a vague, unproven, and unprovable generalisation that does not belong in any self-respecting report”.
The SGB further argued that remarks attributed to an educator were taken out of context and insisted it would show that the investigators acted beyond their mandate, which it says was limited strictly to racism.
Despite the latest setback, the SGB’s main review application against the education department is still before the high court and will continue.
