Operation Dudula protests at Addington Primary reignite foreign pupils dispute

ANTI-IMMIGRANT groups March and March and Operation Dudula have renewed protests at Addington Primary School, targeting pupils born to foreign parents.

As police secured the premises today (Wednesday), education officials expressed concern about the impact on children's wellbeing and call for schools to remain centres of learning without disruption.

Shouting slogans and waving placards, protesters gathered at the school gates from this morning.

South African Police Service (SAPS) were deployed in numbers and stood guard at the entrance as tensions ran high, with authorities moving swiftly to prevent the situation from boiling over and to ensure the safety of those inside the school.

Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo, the chairperson of the education and health subcommittee for the African National Congress (ANC) in KwaZulu-Natal, said the matter had been discussed extensively in the party with solutions sought.

We would like to request the citizens of our country to make schools centres of learning and teaching," he said.

"Right now, we are getting reports that we should assist and support some of the younger pupils with counselling because some of the issues that they witnessed last week were things they should not have been exposed to."

This comes after the anti-immigrant group confronted parents at the school at the start of the term, claiming that the institution favoured foreigners.

"If there are issues to be handled, let it be not in areas where there is learning and teaching to disturb... The school is currently at full capacity with 1 548 learners. Of those, 968 are South African citizens," he said.

However, March and March leader Jacinta Ngobese-Zuma believes the majority of pupils at the school are foreigners.

"It is not just about Addington Primary, it is about every South African child that does not have a space in school, is in school but their learning is compromised because classes are overcrowded or do not have enough food," Ngobese-Zuma said.

Sikuzani Furaha, who is originally from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) told IOL that she believed that pupils were safe as long as there was police presence.

"It is useless to go there because officers are taking care of that. If the issue escalates, they will call us to fetch the kids. We should not be fighting in front of children,” she said.

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