Neumann case exposes DA's hunger for power

AT THE beginning of the Covid pandemic in 2020, the Principal of Heathfield High School in Cape Town, Wesley Neumann, was dismissed by the Western Cape Education Department (WCED).

- SEELAN NAIDOO

He was dismissed for supporting and implementing an SGB-sanctioned decision to keep the school closed to protect learners and teachers from Covid infection.

The school's decision on this safety matter drew the ire of the then MEC Debbie Schafer and HOD Brian Schreuder, who had issued instructions to instead reopen the schools despite the serious risks involved.

Neumann has vigorously opposed his dismissal since then and at great cost to himself and his family. His matter has languished in legal purgatory for the past five years and will thankfully be heard next in the Labour Court beginning on September 17. This case, which will likely take about a month to produce a verdict, is not only about Neumann. It has implications for how the WCED will treat public schools, SGBs, learners, and educators in the poorer communities of the Western Cape.

As someone who values education, I must declare that I support Neumann's cause wholeheartedly. For me, the heavy punishment meted out to Neumann by the WCED and their intractability over the past five years are out of any reasonable proportion. The WCED has spent millions of rands of scarce public funds to defend a dismissal that in my layperson's view is unfair and unjust - the WCED's action is excessive, unreasonable, and was unnecessary to begin with.