Year in Review: South Africans react to video of teacher ‘forcibly’ combing student's hair
MEC of Education in Gauteng added his voice to the thousands of South Africans who reacted to the video involving a school teacher at an unidentified school.
"This is completely unacceptable. Team Education kindly verify."
These were the words of Panyaza Lesufi in response to the video. Panyazi was not the only politician who reacted to the video which shows a school teacher running a comb through a learner's hair in a very rough manner.
EFF Commissar Mbuyiseni Ndlozi also took to Twitter to share his outrage:
In defence of Afro... uncombed black hair is neat, even in children! Nothing wrong with wearing your hair naturally!
— Mbuyiseni Ndlozi (@MbuyiseniNdlozi) March 22, 2021
We are beautiful! And we don’t need your combs! pic.twitter.com/X9P0HrfIMr
The video footage was taken at an unidentified school. In the video, a female teacher is outside a school gate, holding a comb. She then makes a row of boys line up to get their hair combed. The boys in the video seem to have natural locks and afros.
One student a time, the teacher is seen forcibly combing through the hair.
The wearing of natural hairstyles has notoriously been a heated subject matter in South African schools.
READ: Pretoria Girls High pupils stand up against hair policy
In 2016, learners embarked on national protest action calling for a change in the code of conduct of schools - which allegedly does not allow black learners to wear their hair in its natural form.
Watch the now viral video below:
Ku rough😂to be a learner pic.twitter.com/18XQXrOfkQ
— Gun City Beats (@thatosethunya1) March 22, 2021
Here are just a few of the reactions that caught our attention:
Firstly why is her mask off? Is this social distancing? She's going to use the same comb on each boys hair?
— Zwee (@ZoeGcina) March 22, 2021
Secondly this is abuse. Periodt✋🏾
Those of you who think this is discipline are weird.
She is probably transmitting dandruff, lice, etc from one learner to another... "NEXT"...
— Sphetho Siyengo (@sphethosiyengo) March 22, 2021
Common sense was abolished when her kids were allowed or admitted at Model C or Pvt school
Didn’t your folks comb your hair in front of your siblings while you were growing up ? I don’t get why there’s so much political outrage when a person who is in a parental roll is ensuring basic tidiness 🥴
— Mhlengi Mpungose (@Saint_Pablo31) March 22, 2021
Hopefully, we won't be seeing any videos like this in 2022.
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Main image courtesy of Twitter user @thatosethunya