[imagesource: Twitter / @Newzroom405]

Classes at Witbank Technical High School in Mpumalanga have been suspended for a week after a battle broke out between parents over racism allegations.

The chaos ensued on Monday morning at the school when a crowd of black and white parents physically assaulted each other at the school’s gates.

The situation seems to have stemmed from a prior fight between students that led to some being suspended, particularly one white student and one black student, reports EWN.

But it is claimed that the white student was coming to school as normal (despite allegedly being suspended) while the black student was not allowed to write any exams.

SABC News reports that two black students were suspended.

Parents then took the matter to the streets, fighting it out with sticks and stones:

#ProtestAction Reports of violent clashes between parents and Protesters at Technical School in Witbank. No @SAPoliceService on scene.. @BOSBEER2006 @1SecondLater @MARIUSBROODRYK @News24 @eNCA pic.twitter.com/4qgs916eis

— BOSBEER.COM (@BOSBEER2006) June 14, 2021

Via a Newzroom Afrika Tweet, Mpumalanga Education MEC, Bonakele Majuba, says the department of education is investigating the matter:

“We have decided to suspend schooling for a week to allow a cooling off period.”

He added that; “In the morning, I had a meeting with the SGB [school governing body] and the management of the school.

“We agreed there that the children, who were suspended, will have to be given a chance to write exams and also a team will further investigate if those were the only children who were affected so we can have fairness so that all children, who were found to have done wrong, will have to be disciplined irrespective of the colour of their skin,” Majuba said in a statement.

[sources:ewn&sabcnews]