The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (Sadtu) has slammed Curro Protea Glen school executive head Shanette Tiquin, saying she does not deserve to work in any learning institution whether public or private.
The largest teachers’ union in South Africa has also called for the network of private schools, run by Curro Holdings to deracialise its institutions, saying Curro does not employ African teachers except to teach African languages. The union said this in a statement to mark Women’s Day on Wednesday.
“We celebrate and commemorate the women of 1956 and all women that fought in the struggle against colonialism and racist apartheid.
“Today we are confronted by racism in our schools where a racist Curro boss Shanette Tiquin called a black teacher Nonkululeko Gwatyu a monkey. These racist attacks on Nonkululeko Gwatyu and many women educators in our learning institutions must be fought with everything in us as a union,” it said the statement.
“Shanette Tiquin is a racist who does not deserve to work within our learning institutions whether private or public because these institutions are expected to develop and empower our children with values of respect and tolerance. These institutions are assigned to develop our human resource development and advancement of social cohesion.
“The Curro school leadership must act decisively against this racist Shanette Tiquin and deracialise the institutions because we hold a firm view that Curro does not employ African teachers unless those it employs are there to teach African languages as if in this country, we do not have African educators in particular African women,” the union said.
Sunday World reported on Sunday that Gwatyu had accused Tiquin of calling her a monkey. Gwatyu has since lodged a formal complaint against Tiquin with Curro’s top executives.
Curro’s spokesperson Nadia Rossouw confirmed that Gwatyu had filed a formal complaint against Tiquin and investigations regarding allegations were underway.
“Curro Holdings is aware of an incident at Curro Academy Protea Glen that involves allegations by a teacher that she was spoken to in a derogatory and discriminatory manner by a senior member of staff during a recent incident at the school. The group has taken these allegations seriously and an investigation is under way,” said Rossouw.
Gwatyu opened a criminal case at Protea Glen police station on Monday. The EFF staged a protest outside the school on Monday demanding that Tiquin should be suspended from her plush job.
Gauteng police spokesperson Captain Mavela Masondo said: “A case of crimen injuria has been opened at Protea Glen police station and an investigation is under way. The complainant alleged that one of the senior employees called her a monkey.”
Gwatyu declined to comment and stated that the matter is being handled internally by the school. Tiquin did not respond to our questions despite having read them.
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