Cape Town -- A school in the quiet seaside town of Strand has been confronted with complaints of racial inequality after it emerged that all but two of its teachers are white.
This comes after Hoërskool Strand brandished a picture of 16 newly-hired white personnel on Facebook.
The school's governing body is composed of white members while black Africans and coloured people are employed as maintenance staff, images on the school’s website showed.
The EFF is seeing red, warning that black people were "systematically excluded" from the school’s teaching staff.
"Twenty-nine years into democracy... we still have whites-only schools that practice racism with impunity," said a statement issued by the party.
EFF Western Cape also condemned the school's staff composition as a display and celebration of whiteness and accused the DA-led government of perpetuating it.
The party also said the school was sending out a wrong message that sought to suggest that only white people were worthy of either studying or being employed at the school.
"It cannot be that we still have schools whose culture and ethos is rooted in white supremacist ideals that seek to engender racism," the party further asserted in a statement.
The party called on Education MEC David Maynier, the provincial Department of Education and the school governing body (SGB) and other relevant structures to investigate the school’s recruitment process with immediate effect.
“We also call for a thorough scrutiny of its policy and culture", added the party, saying it also condemned other schools in the province who might be perpetuating racism.”
“Any form of racism is a crime against humanity and it should be characterised by and treated as such.
The ANC also condemned the appointments at Strand High School as “highly disturbing and unacceptable".
The party's Member of Provincial Legislature (MPL) responsible for education, Khalid Sayed further noted that even the school's Learner Representative Council only had five persons of colour.
Sayed said many schools were allowed to be "white enclaves" due to alleged complacency by the WCED.
Sayed also said the composition of the teaching staff and SGB impacted on the admissions and language policy of the school and this would in turn lead to a rejection of black learners to "keep the school white".
"We demand transformation in all schools in the province. We will be requesting more information from the MEC regarding the number of schools that have zero blacks in its staff, SGB and learners," added Sayed.
In response, the WCED said it noted the allegations by the EFF and requested a meeting to address concerns.
Spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said the department would in the interim engage with the school to determine the facts.
Despite several calls to the school, the principal Danie Malan was said to be in meetings and would get in touch with the Weekend Argus. He failed to do so.
Weekend Argus