The Constitutional Court (ConCourt) has dismissed an application filed by four Jehovah’s Witnesses parents and guardians of pupils attending the Anglican Church-owned Arundel School, who were challenging the institution’s decision compelling every student to attend chapel sessions.
BY CHARLES LAITON
In a ruling made on Wednesday, Justice Bharat Patel said the school had the right to enforce its rules and every parent or guardian with a child enrolled at the school was obliged to abide by the institution’s policies.
“The applicants (Amos Makani, Mbiri Shiripinda, Plaxedes Chipangura and Daniel Sakupwanya) cannot assert that their faith condemns the mixing of religious beliefs and practices and at the same time, enrol their daughters at a school with Anglican ethos and practices. The contract of admission that they signed categorically states that any latitude in chapel attendance granted to the pupils would not invariably exempt their attendance in future and that the decision of the head in that regard would be final,” Justice Patel ruled.
“As for the present policy of insisting on chapel attendance by all pupils, I am not persuaded that the applicants’ daughters are being treated differently from the other pupils on account of their religion.
“Having regard to the test of what constitutes discriminatory treatment as articulated in Section 56(4) (of the Constitution), I do not perceive that the applicants’ daughters are being subjected to a condition, restriction or disability to which other pupils are not subjected or that other pupils are being accorded directly or indirectly a privilege or advantage which they are not accorded. On the contrary, it seems to me that they are being treated equally and in the same manner as other pupils. Indeed, it is not inconceivable that even pupils of the Anglican faith might object to mandatory chapel attendance for reasons unconnected with their faith.”
He added: “In the premises, I am satisfied that the applicants have failed to demonstrate any plausible basis for invoking the right not to be treated in a discriminatory manner in impugning the school’s policy of compulsory chapel attendance by all pupils.”
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The judge said the affected pupils should not be forced out of school, but afforded a reasonable time frame to select and relocate to another school.
Advocate Tererai Mafukidze represented the pupils’ parents, while Advocate Adrian de Bourbon represented Arundel School and its headmistress, Pauline Makoni.
