PLANS TO escort black children into an all white school this morning have been postponed.
The government of the Northern Province announced the postponement after the board of Potgietersrus primary school applied for leave to appeal from the Supreme Court in Pretoria.
A spokesman for the provincial government, Mr Jack Mokobi, told The Irish Times yesterday that the appeal was expected to be heard on Thursday.
The all white primary school has been at the centre of a raced controversy since a group of white amen prevented three black children from enrolling three weeks ago. The man, who wore the khaki garb of right wing Afrikaners, also assaulted a TV crew, destroying their equipment.
The school authorities denied that they were acting on racist motives, claiming that they were keen to protect the Afrikaans language ethos of the school and that the school was full. The parents board, which effectively controls the school, subsequently voted to defy a government ultimatum asking them to abandon their blockade or risk seeing the state funded school shut down.
Last Friday, the Supreme Court upheld a complaint from the province's ANC, which argued the interim constitution outlaws discrimination in education.
On Friday the provincial premier, Mr Ngoaka Ramathlodi, warned that security forces would escort black children to and from the school if there was any danger of violence or intimidation. Local National Party and Afrikaner nationalist Freedom Front leaders yesterday offered to mediate.