AfriForum has insisted that Afrikaans schools have the Constitutional right to learn in their mother-tongue.
"Afrikaans schools have a right to be here", said AfriForum's head of community safety Ian Cameron on Wednesday after arriving at Hoërskool Overvaal in Vereeniging. This follows a protest outside the school by a contingent of people wearing EFF regalia. They were chanting and protesting against the school's language and admissions policy.
"Afri[Forum] is involved in the internal part of the risk and security today, but I think the important part is that is rather that we are also taking a stand that Afrikaans schools have a right to be here. It's a constitutional right to learn in your mother tongue," said Cameron.
"Unfortunately, we see the department's reaction after a court decision – we see that the department is making quite irresponsible utterances, like you've seen from MEC Panyaza Lesufi regarding this specific school or this specific incident".
Members of the EFF said black children in Vereeniging are being discriminated against at Hoërskool Overvaal.
"You will know that the majority of people residing in this area are blacks, but those who are enrolled here are lily-white," EFF member Azwi Tshitangano said.
"After 23 years of democracy, this is not going to happen on our watch," Tshitangano said.
The ANC Youth League (ANCYL) said it was "flabbergasted" by Judge Bill Prinsloo's ruling prohibiting the placement of 55 English-speaking learners in Höerskool Overvaal in Vereeniging.
Judge Prinsloo contended that the department's instruction to the school to accommodate the 55 English-speaking learners was unlawful and not supported by legislation and applicable legislations.
"As the Youth League, we strongly believe that Judge Prinsloo not only erred in his judgment, but [that this ruling] was a frontal attack on ANC-led government's effort to build a single, democratic, nonracial and nonsexist public education system," the ANCYL claimed in a statement.
"The ruling is a clear demonstration that some untransformed judges, still craving for [sic] the old apartheid order, are abusing their influence or positions in the judiciary to undermine [the] radical transformation agenda as advanced by the ANC."