The police are investigating after the K-word was used to describe pupils at a local high school in videos circulated on social media.
The videos, posted on “impersonated” TikTok accounts which have since been removed from the app, show a group of pupils in their school uniform standing on the school stage. A caption, with a monkey emoji, says: “We have given all our K**** blazers”.
According to Table View police spokeswoman, Captain Adriana Chandler, police are investigating a case of crimen injuria.
“No arrests have been made yet, but crime intelligence will be assisting with the investigation,” she said.
The account that shared the racist content was allegedly linked to a 15-year-old Table View High pupil. But Captain Chandler said the pupil’s phone had been hacked and he was also a victim.
Late last month, the school issued a statement, saying it did not have a TikTok account and distancing itself from the account.
“Table View High School strongly condemns and will not tolerate any form of racism, homophobia or any other form of discrimination. Please take note that the boy accused of this post has reported this to the police and the case is currently under investigation.
“We encourage you not to engage with this fake account; however, if you have any information that would assist the police in tracing the origins of the true account holder, please forward it to grade09sup@tvh.co.za. We reiterate our disapproval and condemnation of this post as this is in direct contradiction of our school‘s values,” the statement said.
Western Cape Education Department spokeswoman, Bronagh Hammond, said the 15-year-old pupil’s account had been impersonated.
“The parents have submitted the learner’s phone to SAPS and have opened a case of defamation of character. Arrangements are being made with a digital forensics company to get the content removed.
The school has instructed a lawyer to take up the issue with TikTok with the view of getting the fake account removed. The content is extremely offensive and unacceptable,” she said.
Referring to the recent clashes in Brackenfell, Graeme Andrews, of Table View, said he was concerned someone was trying to stir up racial conflict in his neighbourhood.
“What I’d hate is to see this neighbourhood also embroiled in an incident where it puts black people and white people against each other. We all know who gains from that – the political parties.
They will get tremendous support from people who feel aggrieved by this.”
Thulani Singatha, an ex pupil of the school, said he had never experienced racism there. “I can only speak for myself and people I went to school with. We’ve never had any issues or heard of racist incidents. I know it’s quite a big thing now to speak about these uncomfortable situations. And people get emotional about this, which is understandable. But I think we need to first find out what happened and who the guys that did this are, before we react,” he said.