Calls to reinstate axed Heathfield principal

Urgent calls have been made to reinstate Heathfield High ex-principal Wesley Neumann to avoid a crisis at the school.

On Friday Neumann approached the Education Labour Relation Council to state his case before the council makes a finding concerning his conduct. The outcome will be known in due course.

Neumann was formally dismissed as Heathfield High principal in May after he refused to reopen the school amid the Covid-19 infection peak in 2020.

The ANC in the Western Cape legislature called for the reinstatement of Neumann earlier this week after Western Cape head of education, Brent Walters, in a letter warned the school’s leadership about high absenteeism, pupil tardiness and loitering, which has caused much stress and anguish among teachers and parents.

The letter caused an uproar among pupils, teachers and colleagues.

Western Cape legislature ANC caucus leader for education, MEC Mohammed Khalid Sayed said the disruption of learning was self-orchestrated chaos by the WCED under its former MEC Debbie Schäfer, which the current MEC David Maynier has allowed to continue.

“The ANC reiterates its call for MEC Maynier to drop all charges and immediately reinstate principal Neumann.

“We warned about the unfair targeting and unjust dismissal of Neumann from the very onset. We appeal for calm and call on the new MEC and head of department to engage the learners and parents to listen to their grievances and find an amicable solution to the ongoing turmoil.

“The ANC has noted with concern the letter written by the WCED to the parents wherein it was insinuated that the learners are to blame for the ongoing disruptions and called on the parents to help direct learners back to class to protect learning and teaching time.

“As we commemorate the activism of the students of 1976, we should be encouraging our learners to fight injustice in a responsible and directed manner. We should desist from portraying student activism as the cause of chaos which is created by management,” he said.

Pupils have also reached out to the education department, calling on Walters to visit the school to listen to their grievances.

The Representative Council of Learners (RCL) sent a statement to Walters, describing his letter as a desperate attempt to deflect the spotlight from the department's failure to understand and effectively deal with the current situation at the school.

“According to Mr Walters, the current situation at our school is ‘unfortunate’. It is unfortunate that Mr Walters and the MEC of Education did not come to our school and engage with us.

“The WCED took a decision without considering the impact its decision would have on us and the school community. For more than two years, we have pleaded with you to leave our principal alone and let him lead, inspire and build us to become productive and confident boys and girls,” read the statement.

“The majority of the learners (80%) refuse to go to class as an act of contempt towards your handling of the situation at Heathfield High. The crisis and what is transpiring at Heathfield High School is solely your department's own doing.

“Our fight against this injustice will continue until Mr Neumann is reinstated in his rightful post as principal of Heathfield High School,” read the statement.

An education department employee who knows Neumann, described him as a man of integrity and discipline.

“I can confidently say that none of these things would've happened if he was still principal at the school. Everyone had respect for him because he was someone who took pride in his school.

“If the department of education cannot see the truth behind these protests, then I don’t know, because all of these things have been happening since he's been dismissed,” the employee said.

Kerry Mauchline, spokesperson for Maynier, said that the MEC has no authority in law to reconsider the decision taken by his predecessor.

Bronagh Hammond, a spokesperson for the Western Cape Education Department, said Neumann’s post has not been advertised yet.