Latest news with #BarendHermanusRautenbach
IOL News
16 hours ago
- Politics
- IOL News
Supreme Court gives its approval for high school to ditch its links to apartheid architect, DF Malan
Hoërskool DF Malan may soon have a new name, after the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissed a bid to prevent the school governing body (SGB) from changing it to DF Akademie. Image: Armand Hough/African News Agency(ANA) A Belville school has finally received the green light from the Supreme Court of Appeal to change the name of Hoërskool DF Malan to DF Akademie to distance itself from being named after one of the chief architects of apartheid. The Western Cape High Court earlier dismissed a bid by four parents to prevent the school governing body (SGB) from changing it to DF Akademie. The SGB years ago officially started the process to change the school name, but in 2021, aggrieved by the decision and the proposed new name, four individuals – Barend Hermanus Rautenbach, Johan Smit, Francois Malan, and Barend de Klerk – launched a review application. After losing that application, they subsequently turned to the SCA. In upholding the SGB's decision to change the name of the school, the SCA, in a unanimous judgment, commented: 'A public institution's name often says more about its identity, ethos, and culture than its written mission statement. This is even more so if the institution is named after a controversial historical figure.' Judge John Smith, who wrote the judgment, added that it is thus unfortunate that more than three decades into the constitutional democracy there are still public institutions which are named after individuals who were instrumental either in the development or implementation of the apartheid ideology. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. 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Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ After the conclusion of a consultative process, the governing body in May 2021 resolved to review the school's name. That decision was subject to further investigation into the financial implications of the name change and consequential amendments to its constitution. Eventually, after further consultation with stakeholders, the governing body resolved to change the name of the school to DF Akademie. That name was thereafter submitted to the Provincial Department of Education for confirmation that no other educational institution had a similar name. The appellants took umbrage at the decision and, in December 2021, unsuccessfully launched an application in the High Court. They maintained that the consultative procedure adopted by the governing body was unfair, and the decision itself was irrational. According to them, they had a legal right to object to the name change as the issue concerned a matter of public importance and because they paid school fees for their children who attended the school. The SCA noted that, given the controversial figure after whom the school was named, it was inevitable that the governing body would sooner or later be pressured into reconsidering the school's name. The first such request came from an alumnus who wrote to the governing body in 2018. He described the name as 'insensitive and inappropriate' and demanded that the school change its name. The school received two more letters in a similar tone in September 2019 from a parent of two learners. Subsequently, a group of alumni calling themselves 'DF Malan Must Fall' joined the fray. The arguments by the appellants against the name change included that the consultation process during March 2021, which was facilitated by the steering committee members, did not concern the primary issue of the school's name. According to them, it had by then mutated into a debate about 'the school we dream of' and the identity of the school. The appellants contended that that procedure was devised to stifle debate about the question of whether the school's name should be changed. Participants at the discussion groups were therefore not allowed to debate that issue, they argued. But the SCA found that the decision to change the school's name was made after a fair and extensive consultative process during which all interested persons were given an opportunity to express a view. 'The name of Dr Malan harks back to the apartheid era, an association that is fundamentally at odds with the school's ethos of inclusivity and its transformative vision,' the court said.
TimesLIVE
3 days ago
- Politics
- TimesLIVE
Governing body wins fight to change apartheid-era school name
The governing body of an Afrikaans public school named after a former prime minister who was instrumental in the promulgation of apartheid has won a legal battle in the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) to rename the institution. Hoërskool DF Malan, established in 1954, obtained the permission of then prime minister Dr Daniel Francois Malan, who served as prime minister from 1948 to 1954, to be named after him. However, more than three decades into South Africa's constitutional democracy, the name is regarded as an albatross around the neck of a school in Bellville known for its culture of academic excellence and policy of inclusivity. Over four years the school achieved a 100% matric pass rate. A decision was taken in 2020 to embark on a lengthy consultative process to chose new school symbols, values and a name. The first request for change came from an alumnus who wrote to the governing body in 2018, saying the name was 'insensitive and inappropriate'. Two more letters were received in September 2019 from a parent of two pupils. The pressure ramped up in 2020 when a group called 'DF Malan Must Fall' joined the fray. 'A public institution's name often says more about its identity, ethos and culture than its written mission statement. This is even more so if the institution is named after a controversial historical figure,' reads a judgment handed down on Wednesday by the SCA. 'It is thus unfortunate that more than three decades into our constitutional democracy there are still public institutions which are named after individuals who were instrumental either in the development or implementation of the universally deprecated apartheid ideology. The DF Malan High School ... which bears the name of one of the chief architects of apartheid, is one such an institution.' Barend Hermanus Rautenbach, Johan Smit, Francois Malan and Barend de Klerk — parents affected by the decision to change the school name to DF Akademie — took umbrage and hauled the governing body to the Western Cape High Court in December 2021 seeking an order reviewing and setting aside the name-change decision. They argued the governing body did not have statutory power to change the name, the consultative process it adopted was procedurally unfair and irrational, and the decision was not rationally connected to the information before the governing body.
