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Recent reports about racism at a school in Schweizer-Reneke must be handled with circumspection.
Some say that an old incident has been refurbished as part of a fake news campaign so that some can score political points.
Others argue that it is a new incident and that the school in Schweizer-Reneke has not learned from past mistakes.
Racism cannot be tolerated. Nor can South Africa tolerate fake news for the sake of sensation or political gain.
Whether real or fake news, the incident must be investigated and perpetrators must be dealt with swiftly and efficiently.
Racism and fake news are equally deplorable and both have the potential to fan the flames of social intolerance out of control.
But social injustice does not stop with the alleged incident at Schweizer-Reneke.
The recent fatal school bus crash near Middelburg, Mpumalanga, was an unnecessary waste of young lives.
And it is also a form of social injustice that needs to be dealt with swiftly and efficiently.
South Africa’s youth who make use of public transport to travel to and from school have been placed at risk and it is time to challenge the transportation authorities about the poor road conditions that are aggravating transportation safety.
The Middelburg accident also deserves an indignant outcry. School bus accidents – whether fatal or not – creates just as much damage to our youth as an incident of racism.
Why do the low pass rates in Grade 12 not attract the same outrage and spitting rhetoric as the alleged Schweizer-Reneke incident?
Matriculation certificates are not credible any more and the idea that success equals a lowering of standards, does the youth more harm than good.
Defective school systems create unacceptable high levels of exclusion.
The South African labour market is in the unenviable position where entry-level jobs that could be done by matriculants are done by people with national diplomas or degrees.
Can the country sustain the high labour costs associated with such skills/function disparities?
The propensity of drug abuse, gangsterism, teenage pregnancies, blessers and other phenomenons are just as toxic as the Schweizer-Reneke incident.
Many young people are exposed to toxic social environments. The hard truth is that no social stratum in South Africa is immune to such toxicity.
The Waterkloof incident a few years ago, is proof that even the most affluent stratum of society can descend into social injustice that has far-reaching effects.
It is time that South Africans treat all forms of social injustice the same. No one form is worse than the other.
Whatever phenomenon is destroying social cohesion in this country must be rooted out so that the youth can receive the future that they deserve.
Peter van Nieuwenhuizen is chief financial officer of the Growth Institute, a private college focusing on: management education, skills development and enterprise development.
