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Cape Town – A prestigious Cape Town school is at the centre of a brewing race
storm after a social media account, presumably belonging to a pupil at the
school, began trolling black pupils with racial slurs.

Derogatory posts on the social media account alleged to be that of a pupil at
Westerford High School, in Rondebosch, have caused an outcry online.



The school has launched an investigation into the account.

The Instagram account, named Grade8a_2023, shows images of slaves and some
children at the school have been tagged in these posts, with a caption reading:
“I found your family” accompanied with a laughing emoji.

There is also a picture of a Khoisan person accompanied by a caption identifying
them as a teacher at the school.

A picture of a group of coloured people was also shared, with a message stating
that coloureds should be burnt.The caption reads: “and Coloureds should choose
if they are black or white they look like the San and the Khoi (sic)”.

Another Instagram story on the account called for the return of the apartheid
regime.

It read: “I wish apartheid returned (sic)”.

A further image of black slaves chained at the hands and neck was captioned:
“who wishes all these black people could leave our classes and go back to where
they came from (sic)”.

It is unclear who is managing the social media page.

In a letter seen by IOL and now trending on Twitter, Westerford High School
informed pupils, parents and guardians that it was aware of the string of racist
posts and had confirmed that the Instagram account was not an official
recognised Westerford page.

The letter said that pupils, staff and parents had been traumatised by this
incident.




Consultations with the school management and school governing body have taken
place.



The school moved its exams to Monday and Tuesday.

It called for all Grade 8 pupils to be at school on Thursday.

“In view of the fact that the posts seem to have originated from within the
Grade 8 group and have affected the grade significantly, all Grade 8s must be at
school tomorrow from 9am to 10.30am; they are to meet in the Noel Taylor Hall to
be addressed by staff, in-house counsellors and counsellors from outside of the
school.

“They will be free to leave at the end of this session but are welcome to stay
longer should they wish to receive further counselling,” the letter read.

Pupils in other grades, staff members and parents who wished to receive
counselling were also invited to attend sessions at the music auditorium.

The Western Cape Education Department’s (WCED) Bronagh Hammond said the
department had been made aware of the incident and the matter was being
investigated.



Hammond confirmed that the posts did not come from an official school account
and that the school had condemned the comments made.

“It is unclear if the account was hacked or if it did originate from a pupil at
the school.

“Pupils in the class have also questioned who had created the discriminatory
content. The post came from one source.

The school held a meeting with Grade 8 pupils this morning (Thursday) and
provided counselling for those needed it.

“A session was also held with other pupils and parents who wanted more
information. The school will continue to provide counselling over the next
while,” Hammond said.

She said the account holder of the social media page was being identified.

“If the account was hacked, then the school would need to consider what action
can be taken against the outside perpetrator. If a pupil was involved, then
disciplinary action will be instituted.

“The school does not tolerate any form of discrimination and will proceed with
disciplinary action in terms of the code of conduct,” Hammond said.

robin.francke@inl.co.za

IOL




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INFOREG IN DARK ABOUT WCAPE PARLY’S CYBER INCIDENT

By Simnikiwe Mzekandaba, IT in government editor

Johannesburg, 09 Jun 2023



Read time 2min 10sec

Comments (0)

Despite informing law enforcement agencies about its cyber attack and subsequent
data leak, the Western Cape Provincial Parliament (WCPP) failed to bring the
matter to the attention of the Information Regulator.



This week, the WCPP said it feared a data leak may have compromised some or all
of its data, following last month’s cyber attack.

The provincial legislature said despite making progress restoring its ICT
infrastructure, forensic auditors advised that a worst-case-scenario assumption
should be adopted in respect of whether its data has been compromised by the
cyber attack.

It said the matter has been reported to the South African Police Service and
State Security Agency. Additionally, it advised its stakeholders − including
participants in WCPP events, media representatives, members of the Cape Town
consular corps, job applicants and service providers − to exercise vigilance in
respect of their personal information.

However, it seems SA’s Information Regulator has been left in the dark.

The personal information watchdog is, among other duties, empowered to monitor
and enforce compliance by public and private bodies with the provisions of the
Protection of Personal Information Act (POPIA).



The Information Regulator tells ITWeb it reached out to the WCPP as soon as it
became aware of the security compromise.

“The Western Cape Provincial Parliament did not inform us of the security
compromises, as per the requirements of section 22 of POPIA.”

According to the info watchdog, it has subsequently requested extensive
information from the provincial Parliament, and it has until 14 June to respond
to the request.

Further steps to be taken will be determined once the extent of the security
compromise has been established, which may include a POPIA Section 89
assessment, it states.

“All security compromises are subjected to a risk assessment. Any matters that
have been rated as high risk are addressed on an urgent basis, often culminating
in a Section 89 assessment in terms of POPIA.

“Lower risk matters are analysed for trends, such as sectors, organisations,
incident types and frequency, which may lead to assessments in terms of Section
89 of POPIA, notwithstanding the low risk of the individual security
compromises.”

South Africa’s data privacy legislation − POPIA − came into force on 1 July
2021, following a year-long grace period for organisations to comply with the
Act.

Provided by SyndiGate Media Inc. (Syndigate.info).





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