Wendy Dumezweni and her father Solomzi with the unsigned letter of intention to expel her from Mfuleni High School. Photo by Mandla Mnyakama ~
GRADE 12 pupil Wendy Dumezweni (17) thinks she’s being used as an example.
She and a group of friends challenged an instruction to remove their braids after the winter school holidays.
The group of Mfuleni High School girls started a protest to be allowed to wear braids.
“Pupils confronted the school for failing to recognise gender equality by refusing to allow girls to wear braids while it allowed boys to have stylish haircuts,” said Wendy, who got a 14-day suspension letter on 25 August and couldn’t attend classes on Friday and Monday.
In the unsigned letter the SGB accuses Wendy of attending classes under the influence of alcohol but doesn’t state when this happened.
It also states that she undermined management and the SGB and provoked pupils to break the rules. The SGB recommended to the Western Cape Education Department that she be expelled.
“The school is starting a campaign to destroy my educational future for being the Cosas representative. I just want it to allow pupils’ voices to be heard.
“Now I have been singled out and targeted as the only one behind the protest. I was pushed and shoved around by a teacher who pulled my braids and accused me of being drunk, even though I was completely sober. I said I would go for a breathalyser test and they refused.
“Teachers even tried to persuade my friends to break ties with me and suggested I used tik and would force myself onto their boyfriends. The suspension came as I am about to write exams.”
Her dad Solomzi Dumezweni (47) said she didn’t go to school drunk. “I refused to sign the document they gave me because I don’t understand the whole matter. I expected them to inform me but they only told me the outcome,” he said.
The principal refused to comment and referred Daily Sun to the Western Cape Education Department. The spokeswoman, Jessica Shelver, has not provided the SunTeam with a comment for weeks.
The Mfuleni Education Forum could not be reached for comment.
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