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9 February, 2015 | |
Schools withdraw application of leave to appeal on school closures case. Statement by Minister Debbie Schäfer, Minister of Education We are pleased to announce that today the 14 schools which appealed to the Constitutional Court against the decision by the Western Cape Education MEC to close them have accepted the Western Cape Government's proposal that they withdraw their application for leave to appeal on the basis that we will start the process again. We made this offer, despite the unanimous judgment of the Supreme Court of Appeal in our favour, for the following reasons:
This agreement must not be interpreted in any way to mean that the schools will not close. It merely means that the best interests of the learners will be served because any processes that may need to can proceed without further delay, taking into account any possible change in circumstances since the decision was initially taken. The Department will look at the situation as a whole in the province and in the event that closure is recommended again, new notices will be published and representations may again be made. The schools in question also did not pursue their attack on the constitutionality of section 33 of the South African Schools Act in the SCA and are not pursing such an attack in their Constitutional Court appeal. The only issue they persisted in was how they assert section 33 was implemented, i.e. they do not take issue with the Minister's right to close schools. We are pleased that this matter is now resolved. | |
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