Christian School Principal’s Husband Accused of Assaulting Deadlocked Teen and Mom Arrested, Appears in Court

• The man accused of assaulting a 13-year-old learner and her mother at the Crowthorne Christian Academy had his day in court
• Andries Hendrik Booysen was arrested on Wednesday, 17 August and appeared in the Midrand Magistrate's Court
• The EFF accused the school of instituting racist policies which unfairly target black learners

MIDRAND - The husband of the principal of the Crowthorne Christian Academy accused of assaulting a pupil and her mother appeared in the Midrand Magistrate's Court.

According to a National Prosecuting Authority statement sent to Briefly News, the 51-year-old Andries Hendrik Booysen was arrested earlier in the day and, after a brief appearance, was released on R2 000 bail.

Dreadlocked teen allegedly assaulted at Joburg school

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EFF members protest at Joburg Christian school after a pupil was kicked out for having dreadlocks

Booysen landed in hot water after a video of the alleged assault of the teen and her mom went viral on social media.

The entire debacle was caused by a disagreement between the principal and the learner's mother regarding the child's dreadlock hairstyle.

The dispute turned physical when Booysen allegedly violently pushed the learner and her mother.

EFF condemns Crowthorne Christian Academy

In a statement seen by Briefly News, the Economic Freedom Fighters in Gauteng condemned the Crowthorne Christian Academy for kicking the learner out of class because she had dreadlocks.

The party accused the school of instituting racist policies targeting black learners. The school's hair policy states that all learners must have natural hair.

The EFF criticised:

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Teenage girl thrown out of class for having dreadlocks at Joburg Christian School, Mzansi torn about incident

"This policy is predicated on the racist notion that natural hair means relaxed and straightened hair inherent to white people, whereas curly hair and dreadlocks, characteristic of black people’s hair, are considered unnatural and therefore prohibited from the school."

The learner was told she could not return to school until she cut her hair.

KZN school comes under fire for demanding Shembe learners cut their hair despite religious beliefs

In another story, Briefly News reported that an Amanzimtoti school came under fire for issuing a letter to learners allegedly violating their constitutional rights.

The note called for learners, including Nazareth Baptist (Shembe) Church members, to cut their hair. Esizibeni Sivananda Vaswani Comprehensive High School allegedly turned away learners who did not have short hair on Monday, 6 February.

In the letter seen by TimesLIVE, the school principal said the issue is a “thorny” one. The school added that it wanted children to be children and not be distracted.

Source: Briefly News