Top KZN school sues parents over fees

Durban - A top Durban school has gone to court in a bid to bar three pupils from studying further as their parents collectively owe a sum of almost R200 000 in outstanding fees.

In one of the cases, the parents hired an advocate to argue their case in the Durban High Court.

Durban Girls’ College, an independent school, charges between R32 500 and R70 000 a year, with an extra R53 800 for weekly boarding.

The three cases, which came before Judge Philip Nkosi on Friday, were adjourned.

In the case where the parents had hired an advocate, it was adjourned for the parents to file answering affidavits.

The college told the court that the parents, who cannot be named to protect the identities of the children, had continued to send their children to school despite being warned they would be excluded if the fees were unpaid.

The college is seeking an order that the parents pay the outstanding fees and that the children be barred. The college said it would allow the children to stay until the end of the fourth term but they would have to be enrolled in other schools next year.

In one case, the parents of a Grade 6 pupil owe the college about R82 000, an amount which had accumulated since the child had been enrolled in Grade R in 2007.

According to court papers, in February the parents had told the college they would seek the help of the child’s grandparents to make a “large payment”, but no payment was made.

The college said letters of demand were also ignored.

In the other cases before the court, parents of a Grade 6 pupil owed R61 466 and parents of a Grade 10 pupil owed R52 668.

In similar affidavits filed in each case, the college’s headmaster, Thomas Hagspihl, said all attempts to recover the money from the parents had been unsuccessful.

In each case the school’s bursar had over the past few years sent letters demanding payment of fees.

In most instances the letters had the desired effect of prompting payment towards the outstanding fees but there still remained an arrears balance.

He said the college had been “accommodating” towards the parents and explored various avenues for the fees to be paid, including payment plans.

“It is clear that the parents are not in a position to pay. They have made no attempt to pay and we cannot allow the children to continue attending school,” he said.

He explained that the exclusion was not an attempt to “discipline or expel” the children as they had done nothing wrong.

The parents had signed an undertaking that they would pay school fees per term in advance and the school was entitled to charge interest at the prime overdraft rate.

The Mercury