Mom under fire over school fee row
466 24-07-2013 Mother of a grade 12 pupil at Letsatsing secondary school Cynthia Masela at the school’s gate. Letsatsing is a non-fee school but the principal demands parents to pay school fees by not giving children their reports. Picture: Tiro Ramatlhatse 466 24-07-2013 Mother of a grade 12 pupil at Letsatsing secondary school Cynthia Masela at the school’s gate. Letsatsing is a non-fee school but the principal demands parents to pay school fees by not giving children their reports. Picture: Tiro Ramatlhatse
Johannesburg - One of the parents who blew the whistle on a Carltonville school that demanded fees despite it being a no-fee school has become the subject of a campaign to defame her.
Cynthia Masela, whose child is in Grade 9 child at the Letsatsing Combined School, said her daughter was in tears when she brought home a flyer with her mom’s picture on Friday, which offered girls between the ages of 12 and 18 years “jobs” to become prostitutes.
The flyer had a picture of Masela, her home address and cellphone number.
Masela said the picture appears to be the one published in The Star on Thursday last week, which was used in the paper with the initial story where parents had spoken out against being forced to pay school fees, despite the fact that its illegal for a no-fee school to demand fees.
The flyer surfaced the day after the story was published.
The parents had said if they failed to pay, the school withheld the children’s reports.
The school requires parents with children in Grade R to pay R150 a month.
Fees rise per grade, with Grade 12s paying R960 a year.
Bongiwe Cebani, who has four children and one grandchild at the school, said in December last year she had to pay more than R3 000 for all five children to have their reports released.
Masela, who was at the time of going to press last night at the Carltonville police station to report the flyer, said she suspects the flyer had to do with her being outspoken about the goings-on at the school.
She said since the initial story was published, the school has written to parents, notifying them to fetch their children’s June reports.
“The letter said if parents can’t fetch their children’s report that day, the children will be given their report the next day. This has never happened before.
“The school has never allowed a child who hasn’t paid fees to leave with their report – they’d hold it until the parent goes to the offices and pays,” Masela said.
When responding to the initial story, the department said its investigation into the matter had concluded that the school was not charging school fees.
The department found that the parents had decided “to make voluntary contributions for the upkeep and maintenance of the school as well as paying for extra cleaning staff”.
Parents who spoke to The Star disputed this.
The department also said it would investigate the allegations of parents having to pay R500 for their children to use the school’s computer lab and the holding back of children’s reports for non-payment.
The Star
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