Parents of a private school pupil will have to cough up more than R400 000 after running up the debt over a number of years, having dishonoured their agreement to pay the school fees.
The Western Cape High Court further interdicted the parents from enrolling their daughter at the independent private girls school, St Cyprian’s Diocesan School for Girls, due to the accumulated debt.
According to court documents, the parents of the girl have been in arrears for four years and owe a sum of R407 902, and despite the school’s attempts to restructure the payment of the outstanding fees, the parents of the pupil were unable to pay the fees.
An offer of alternative placement at another school was rejected by the parents as the father submitted that the alternative school was “unsuitable” because it was not predominantly white, and this does not align with his daughter’s cultural values.
Judge Derek Wille found that the school had endeavoured over several years to accommodate the girl’s father and, over the years engaged with him to restructure the payment of these arrears.
“During the hearing, the father conceded that affordability was the issue and that he could not pay the outstanding arrears. Several payment indulgences were afforded to the father and these arrangements were reduced to writing through an acknowledgement of debt and various addenda.
“It is common cause on the papers that the father has not adhered to these agreements and has failed to comply with the payment terms he agreed to concerning the payment of the arrears due regarding his daughter’s school fees,” Judge Wille said.
According to the judgment, a payment plan was negotiated by agreement about four years ago.
“After that, a plethora of correspondence followed concerning the payment of arrear school fees, and the first respondent did not comply with the undertakings given by him. The modus operandi of non-payment and broken undertakings continued during this school year.
It seemed to me that the last straw that broke the camel’s back was the father’s flat-out refusal to sign the most recent restructuring agreement, which had been drafted in a last ditch effort to record in writing the terms of the most recent agreement between the school and the father so that his daughter could be enrolled at the school for her next academic year,” Judge Wille noted.
According to the judgment, the private school also attempted to assist the family with enrolling the girl at an alternative school, which is government-subsidised, where the pupil’s brother currently attends school.
The offer of the alternative placement was denied by the parents who were not legally represented –they were represented in person by the father.
“Surprisingly and unashamedly, the father says that this alternative school is ‘unsuitable’ because this school is not predominantly white, and this does not align with his daughter’s cultural values,” Judge Wille said.
Cape Times