Whites Drop Case Challenging South African Integration
A former whites-only school that was forced to admit blacks has suspended plans to fight the decision in South Africa’s highest court.
“There’s a formal withdrawal before the judges. The case will not proceed,” Constitutional Court Registrar Martie Nienhaber said Monday.
The court was asked to arbitrate after Supreme Court Judge Tjibbe Spoelstra ruled that the school in the Afrikaner town of Potgietersrus “may not unfairly on the grounds of race, ethnic or social origin, culture, color or language refuse to admit any child.”
The Potgietersrus Primary School is the first where white attempts to preserve segregation have been tested in court since all-race elections in 1994 ended institutionalized segregation.
The school’s governors decided to ask the Constitutional Court to intervene after Spoelstra refused to allow an appeal of his decision, but they apparently abandoned the case in favor of a planned national multi-party forum to discuss education issues.
Koos Nel, chairman of the governing body of the school in the town 155 miles northeast of Johannesburg, said he hoped the forum, which would include the country’s major political parties, would meet soon to sort out the crisis.
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