It looks like this one is a case of power to the people after a plan to create a R19 billion private school giant on our shores came crashing down, this after parents threatened to pull their children from elite academies that Curro Holdings sought to buy.

The reason for their anger stems from accusations that other schools owned by the company had segregated children by race, the most notorious incident occurring in Pretoria. A video emerged of the incident and, after a government threat to revoke the school’s licence, the principal of the school in question was sacked. TimesLive reports:

After months of negotiations, Curro Holdings, which runs 40 affordable private schools and plans to double its size within five years, announced it had withdrawn its bid for rival Advtech, owner of a smaller portfolio of prestigious schools.

Curro is 52%-owned by PSG Group, a fast-growing investment firm founded by Jannie Mouton, an Afrikaner businessman known as the “Boere Buffett” in newspapers that compare him to US billionaire Warren Buffett.

It aims to open schools not just in South Africa but across Africa, where growing economies have created a surging market for education among an expanding middle class unsatisfied by weak and underfunded state schools.

The company responded to the allegations of racial segregation by claiming that the division was based on language for pragmatic reasons. Parents didn’t exactly gobble that reasoning up though:

At an Advtech shareholders’ meeting this week, at least two parents said they would pull their children out of Advtech schools in the event of a takeover.

“It concerns us greatly. Curro has only received negative publicity,” said Audrey Gray, a parent at one of Advtech’s Trinityhouse schools.

Unlucky Curro, although knowing the murky world of big business I wouldn’t be surprised if they were putting plan B into action as we speak.

[source:timeslive]