By Dr Ellapen Rapiti
Any cause, no matter how worthy, will be destroyed if addressed by the EFF, because of its proclivity for mayhem and violence.
The protest last week, about a private function for matric learners from Brackenfell High School, on racial and economic grounds, should have been dealt with by people with sober minds and a clear vision for our future, and not by political opportunists.
Gatherings organised on racial and socio-economic lines perpetuate the myth of racial superiority and look disparagingly on people who are not economically well off.
The fact that the function was organised for about only 20% of the white matrics suggests people of colour were excluded along with whites who could not afford the function.
The parents’ decision to organise a function on racial and economic grounds is a shame because it made the excluded children feel like outcasts.
The violence that erupted in front of the school is lamentable because, first, it must have affected the learners who were writing their exams and second, the violence ignored an issue that needed the attention of every thinking citizen who desires to live in a non-racial and non-discriminatory society.
The school said it had nothing to do with organising the function.
Education MEC Debbie Schaffer defended the educators who attended, because she felt they were unaware the celebration was based on racial lines. This defence is crass, unless the educators were blind.
The MEC, the educators who attended and the school must understand children are not born racist, it is ingrained in them by their bigoted and racist parents.
The question that should be on the top of everyone’s minds: If children of all colours learn and play together, why did they have a celebration on racial and socio-economic lines? And why are there different ways of interacting on and off the school grounds?
It is a debate that needs cool heads, if we wish to aspire towards a non-racial democracy.
The organisers were well within their rights, constitutionally, to celebrate privately but we have to ask ourselves: What damage are we doing to the minds of these children who are supposedly taught in a presumably non-racist environment at school and raised in a racist environment at home, if we do not address it in a sober manner?
As someone who fought for a free, democratic and non-racial country, I find the actions of the organisers, the presence of educators at the function, the response by the school and the MEC, reprehensible.
It’s not too difficult to fathom that the function will have a negative and devastating impact on the lives of the learners, of all races, who will grow up as confused adults.
Everyone responsible for damaging these young minds has a duty to rectify their gross error in judgement and make amends.
Parents of colour and educated white parents must express their objection to this apartheid-era-type celebration.
If the school’s governing body, the MEC and parents do not condemn this type of gathering, then they have failed our children and our country.
We should not solve our problems wearing dark goggles, acrimony and rancour but with a clear vision, love and understanding.
Dr Ellapen Rapiti is a health-care practitioner, specialising as a family physician.
The Star