‘I’m not coloured, I’m African,’ says Western Cape teacher

The contentious debate surrounding race, identity and how the two are correlated, is likely to come into focus after an educator in the Western Cape claimed to be ‘African’ and not ‘coloured’, as per the country’s classifications.

According to TimesLive, Glen Snyman, an educator at Grootkraal Primary School in Oudtshoorn, is set to appear before a disciplinary hearing on Wednesday, 14 October 2020, for identifying as ‘African’ in his CV.

Snyman is the founder of an organisation called People Against Race Classification (PARC), which opposes the official referencing and classification of race in South Africa. He has been advocating against racial grouping for more than a decade.

In October 2017 he had applied for a job as a headmaster at another school, but never got the post.

Snyman taking government to court

In October 2019, he took the Western Cape Education Department, Department of Basic Education and Department Labour to court for the removal of the Coloured and Indian race blocks on government’s forms.

In his application, Snyman has also sought a court order to ask government to urgently provide an end date for the affirmative action program. Affirmative has been spearheaded by the ANC-led government, as a way to address the injustices which occurred under the apartheid regime, particularly towards black people and women.

“Affirmative Action cannot be part of the South African economical policy forever. “Redress” based on poverty indicators doesn’t have to stop, but “redress” based on a race criteria must stop at a certain time period,” he said.

He also wants the Constitutional court to instruct government and private organisations to stop the collection of data based on race.

“The race classification blocks (black, coloured, Indian or white) on all forms should be removed. A socio-economic barometer or measuring instrument should be used to focus on the redress of poverty in South Africa. Government should focus on every South African citizen that has a need, the basic needs of communities and job creation for all,” he added.

Snyman has further called for racial classification to be declared illegal and regarded as racism in the country.