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South Africa’s DA federal youth leader, Luyolo Mphithi, should formally apologise to teacher Elana Barkhuizen and pupils whose “identities he exposed” in the apparent Laerskool Schweizer-Reneke race furore that got South Africans talking this week, trade union Solidarity demanded.

The trade union said Mphithi “sowed racial division by declaring that a photograph [showing black pupils sitting separately from their white classmates] a clear-cut case of racism” at the school.

In a letter written to DA leader Mmusi Maimane on Tuesday, Solidarity CEO Dirk Hermann said Mphithi had tweeted a photo of the Grade R classroom — which later went viral — “which implied that the school segregated the children based on race, using nothing other than a photo of a single moment in the classroom”.

“Several other Twitter users posted another photo of the same classroom, but this time with children of different races mixing. Mr Mphithi did not share this photo on his Twitter account as a correction,” Hermann wrote. Despite “serious doubts” arising, the party’s youth leader issued a statement demanding answers from the school for their “outdated attitudes toward integration”.

Hermann wrote that the statement welcomed Barkhuizen’s later suspension, but failed to indicate that she was not the class teacher and that she merely took the photograph. “Despite the chaos observed at Laerskool Schweizer-Reneke, due to protest action spurred on in part by the tweet form Mr Mphithi, the DA’s press release still warned South Africans of the populist rhetoric from other parties.

“Protesters threatened violence — yet the DA still deemed it necessary to mention Elana Barkhuizen in the press release by name. This action by the DA further endangered her, the kids in her classroom, and her own family.”

Hermann requested “clarity” on the DA’s position regarding instances of alleged racism.

“Is Mr Mphithi’s position — that facts do not matter where racism is concerned — indeed the DA’s position regarding instances of alleged racism? If this is the case, we request that this change in policy be communicated to stakeholders to clearly state that where instances of alleged racism is concerned, due process should not be followed. If racism is alleged, one can act recklessly without facts in identifying alleged racists and in defaming them.

“If this is not the DAs position, then we request formal sanctions be brought against Mr Mphithi.”

Mphithi countered that it was not true that Barkhuizen was suspended after he released her name and that this sparked the national outrage. He said the allegations against him were “peddled by political opponents who seem to be against transformation and are instead running a malicious targeted campaign to silence me”.

“I reacted to a picture four hours after it went viral. I was hugely concerned by media reports of alleged racism at this particular school. Shortly thereafter I released a statement stating I would visit the school to seek answers which I did the following day and stated that the matter must be investigated and members of the community must remain calm,” he said.

“To this end, both on social media and in my press statement, I have made no mention of the teacher. I challenge Solidarity to come forward with the evidence in which I have made mention of the teacher and called her racist.”

He said the idea that he had “enough power and influence to suspend a teacher, when I do not even serve in the provincial government of the North West, is laughable”. – AP