Thus far, public order police have failed to contain the unrest that has shot Brackenfell High School in the headlines.
What’s going on at Brackenfell High?
What started out as a petition by learners of the school to expose instances of racism has quickly escalated into an all-out violent confrontation that — more than anything — highlighted South Africa’s long-drawn-out issues with race.
Members of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) have picketed outside the school’s premises after it was alleged that Brackenfell High School organised a matric ball for white pupils only.
This allegation was made by black pupils of the school and the political party, known for its unapologetic stance on racism, gathered in numbers to demand action from the institution.
Parents of the school, together with members of the Western Cape Education Department, released a statement last Friday, claiming that the event that took place at Brackenfell High was, in fact, a private function.
It was said that the school had no part in the organisation of the event and, actually, Brackenfell High had cancelled its matric ball for 2020.
Irate resident arrested and charged with public violence
This, however, was vehemently denied by the school’s black pupils. With the truth somewhere in the middle, the EFF returned to the northern suburb to picket, on Monday, and the community was having none of it.
What started out as a protest outside the school ended in a fullscale fistfight between EFF members and Brackenfell residents.
The violent encounter bore the marks of what we witnessed a few weeks ago in Senekal, Free State. Except, this time around, it was the EFF on the receiving end of rocks hurled at them.
At the time of publishing this article, one Brackenfell resident was placed under arrest and charged with inciting public violence.
Watch: Chaos breaks out at Brackenfell High
Here are some of the videos of the unrest we sourced on social media: