DF Malan High School gets renamed

After a five-year legal battle, the Supreme Court of Appeal has ruled that DF Malan High School in Bellville can be renamed.

The school which is named after South Africa's fourth prime minister and a key architect of apartheid, will adopt the name DF Akademia, in the coming months. Earlier this week, the SCA upheld an earlier Western Cape High Court ruling, which found that processes conducted by the school governing body (SGB) for the name change were fair and rational.

PICTURE: Facebook - DF Malan High School

The challenge was brought by a group of people with links to the school. They claimed the SGB overstepped its legal powers and conducted an unfair legal process.

Chairperson for the SGB, Ferdi Booysen, said that consultation meetings were held with parents, teachers and learners. "We also involved the University of Stellenbosch to do sort of an analysis of the findings of the consultative sessions that we held. Basically, they came back with the results, and we interpreted the results and came to the conclusion that you know the current name of the school being DF Malan does not align with the identity and the values of the school currently, and then the governing body proposed that we kick off a process to change the name of the school."

Booysen said that some parents were unhappy with the outcome and decided to head to the courts.

Done by: Shaneca Cupido