Glen Snyman, a teacher at the Grootkraal Primary School in Oudtshoorn, was due to appear for a disciplinary hearing on Wednesday but just before attending the session the matter was withdrawn.
Glen Snyman. Picture: Facebook.
CAPE TOWN – Fraud charges against a Western Cape teacher who classified himself as African on his CV have been dropped.
Glen Snyman, a teacher at the Grootkraal Primary School in Oudtshoorn, was due to appear for a disciplinary hearing on Wednesday but just before attending the session the matter was withdrawn.
Snyman is also the founder of an organisation called People Against Race Classification.
In 2017, Snyman applied for the principal’s job at another school and claimed to be African. He did not get that position.
Snyman received the charge sheet a month ago, which stated he committed a common-law offence.
Provincial MEC for Education Debbie Schäfer said she only learned on Wednesday that the teacher was charged with fraud.
Schäfer said she was shocked to discover that her department was charging someone because of how they choose to classify themselves.
“One of the many evils of apartheid was the classification of people by their so-called race. This was what many people have fought to rid our country of. So, I am understandably shocked to discover that my department is apparently charging someone because of how they choose to classify themselves. If this is in fact the case, it is anathema to me.
And we will not tolerate victimisation of people who do not conform to an artificial and arbitrary classification of who they are deemed to be,” Schäfer said in a statement.
“I have asked for all the information regarding this case as a matter of urgency because on the face of it, it does not appear to be in line with what this administration stands for.”
The racial classifications on job applications are usually used to meet broad-based economic empowerment criteria.
