Are Western Cape schools turning black children away? Here’s what we know.

A preliminary government finding raises an uncomfortable question: Are some Western Cape schools quietly keeping black and coloured children out?

The finding presented to Parliament on 2 June is serious: according to reporting on the Department of Basic Education’s (DBE) preliminary review, only African and coloured learners appeared on waiting lists of schools in the Western Cape.

That does not automatically prove every school on those lists is deliberately racist. But it does raise a massive red flag.

For years, parents and civil society organisations have complained about learner placement in the Western Cape, particularly when children apply late or try to access schools in better-resourced suburban areas.

In April 2025, Equal Education and the Equal Education Law Centre (EELC) went to the Western Cape High Court, asking it to declare the Western Cape Education Department’s (WCED) failure to plan for and place late-applicant learners timeously unconstitutional. In November 2025, the court found that the WCED’s learner-admissions system unfairly discriminated against black and marginalised learners.

Equal Education and the EELC said the court found the admissions crisis was not a once-off mistake, but an entrenched, systemic problem. The court also rejected the idea that parents were mainly to blame for late applications, saying the department had misunderstood its constitutional duty to ensure enough school places.

The preliminary findings

The DBE found that the Western Cape admissions system does not directly place learners. Instead, schools use their own admissions policies and discretion when deciding who gets in. The DBE also found that school governing bodies appeared to play an active role in admissions decisions in many City of Cape Town education districts.

This is important because admissions are supposed to be fair, lawful, and transparent. The DBE’s preliminary review also raised concerns that the province did not appear to apply zoning or residential address placement as expected, and that parents’ right to choose schools seemed to take priority over learners who may be disadvantaged by discriminatory placement decisions.

Then came the finding that set Parliament on fire: only African and coloured learners appeared on the waiting lists. That finding is still preliminary and being verified.

The discrimination issue

If waiting lists from schools contain only African and coloured learners, then the question becomes obvious: Why are those children the ones waiting?

Is it because of where they live? Because of transport? Because of school fees? Because of late applications? Because of language? Because schools are using criteria that look neutral on paper but exclude poor and working-class families in practice?

The DBE’s own school admissions guidance says a public school may not administer any test for admission. It also says parents should be given the school’s admissions policy and have it explained to them.

The Independent Schools Association of Southern Africa makes a similar legal point in its admissions guidance: the Constitution prohibits unfair discrimination, and even independent schools may not discriminate on the basis of race.

Western Cape Education MEC David Maynier reportedly called the parliamentary meeting “a complete shambles” and said the DBE exercise was not a racial profiling investigation, but a monitoring-and-evaluation exercise conducted in all nine provinces. He said the portfolio committee on basic education ignored findings in other provinces and focused only on the Western Cape.

In a media statement, the committee said it was seriously concerned about the WCED’s failure to provide requested information on learner admissions and placement practices in the province.

Committee chairperson Joy Maimela said the committee had expected a comprehensive report on progress made in addressing the allegations and the practices identified by the court.

The committee said it had heard from parents whose children were sitting at home without placement, and noted that more than 200 learners were being denied access to education. It requested responses and submissions within seven working days.

Bigger than one province

The South African Human Rights Commission warned in 2024 that allegations of racism in schools were still emerging 30 years into democracy, including in Gauteng and the Western Cape. The commission said it was disturbing that such incidents continued so long after apartheid.

The Oxford Human Rights Hub has also written about how school admissions policies can appear neutral yet still exclude black learners in practice, particularly when requirements are linked to feeder zones, geography, and historical patterns of privilege.

A school does not need to say “black children are not welcome” for black children to be effectively kept out. A system can discriminate through paperwork, deadlines, distance, fees, language, transport, and the advantage of certain parents who know how to navigate it.

What happens to the children now?

While the WCED appeals the 2025 court case, the DBE compiles its investigations, Parliament demands documents, and politicians argue about oversight, some families are still trying to get their children placed.

Last year’s court case involved learners from areas including Khayelitsha, Kraaifontein, Kuils River, Strand and surrounding communities. These are not hypothetical children in a policy memo. They are learners who need classrooms, teachers, books, and the ordinary routine of school and getting an education.

A child who sits at home for weeks or months is not just “awaiting placement”. They are missing lessons. They are falling behind. Their parents are scrambling. Their future is being interrupted by a system that should be supporting them.

And if the only children appearing on collected waiting lists are African and coloured, South Africa cannot shrug and call it “admin”.