UPDATE | Brackenfell High SGB's urgent bid to interdict EFF from protesting fails

• Brackenfell High School is understood to have applied for an interdict against the EFF.
• Premier Alan Winde said violence "from any side" would not be tolerated and that charges would be laid.
• MEC Debbie Schäfer said she had asked for a detailed written report into the event at the centre of the furore.

UPDATE: An urgent bid by the school governing body (SGB) of Brackenfell High School, to interdict the EFF from protesting outside its school grounds, failed on Tuesday and will only be heard next week.

The EFF reportedly gave an undertaking not to disrupt school activities in the interim.

The urgent application for an interdict was brought before the Western Cape High Court on Tuesday afternoon and presided over by Judge Siraj Desai.

The SGB's application sought to interdict the EFF from protesting against alleged racism, in four roads leading to the school, including Brackenfell Boulevard, Okavango Road, Frans Conradie Drive and Kruis Road, IOL reported.

School governing body chairperson Guillaume Smit confirmed to News24 the court did not grant their urgent interdict bid on Tuesday.

The matter was postponed and the rest of their application will be heard on Monday, with the EFF given until Friday to file papers to oppose the application.

According to IOL, Desai said the right to free assembly was fundamental.

"The issue is contentious as is. If the school was segregated, it is so repugnant that the protest is legitimate," Desai was quoted as saying.

The court also sought the undertaking from the EFF that exams and learning would not be interrupted, which the party agreed to, Smit said.

"We are thankful that the judge heard our primary concern, and we are grateful that the children's ability to write exams can continue," Smit said.

News24 has reached out for comment from the EFF, and will include it once received.

The following story was published earlier on Tuesday on News24.

Brackenfell High School is understood to have applied for an interdict against the EFF in the Western Cape after violent clashes broke out when angry community members confronted protesters near the school on Monday.

There wasn't a sign of a red beret on Tuesday morning. Locals stood on the corner of Rogland Street, which had been cordoned off, and private security officials and police were out in their numbers.

A group of around 20 parents gathered on one street corner on Tuesday morning.

Premier Alan Winde and Education MEC Debbie Schäfer met the school principal and governing body chairperson on Tuesday, following violence in the northern suburb of Cape Town on Monday.

The EFF in the Western Cape attempted to stage a protest to demand that two teachers who attended a private event, which was allegedly attended by white pupils only, be suspended from the school.

The private event was attended by a number of white Grade 12 pupils after the school cancelled its official matric ball due to Covid-19.

Winde maintained that it was important for pupils to be given the opportunity to complete their school year without "disruptions".

"My message is to the EFF: You may not come and disrupt this community. You need to stay out. We need to keep the politics away from this school now," he said.

The violence on Monday was "absolutely unacceptable", Winde added.

"Here were citizens here busy attacking each other. It cannot happen and that is why I need to see arrests."

Western Cape Education MEC Debbie Schafer and Premier Alan Winde outside Brackenfell High School.

News24 PHOTO: Tammy Petersen, News24

On Monday, police confirmed that a public violence case was opened against a 39-year-old man after a shot was fired in the air, reportedly from a "replica air gun".

Winde said violence "from any side" would not be tolerated and added that charges would be laid.

Schäfer said she had asked for a detailed written report into the event at the centre of the furore, although indications were that it was a private party that "wasn't discriminated on the basis of race" and that not all white pupils had been invited.

On Tuesday, ANC caucus leader Xolani Sotashe stood across the road from the group of locals and held a sign which read: "White supremacy must be confronted and defeated".

"What triggered me to come was to see a certain group of people urinating on our democracy. We must all agree what happened here yesterday is disgraceful. It's distasteful and it must be condemned," he said.

"There is no way that we will keep quiet because we fear when we come out and speak about these issues, some people will feel uncomfortable. We're coming a long way as a country. We are coming from a very painful past."

He added that the Western Cape and Cape Town were not republics.

He said: 

"Don't bring back the bad memories. We are here to say that as a nation, let's embrace each other."

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