Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
South African Press Association (Johannesburg) - June 21, 2002
The Johannesburg High Court last Friday ordered the Buccleuch Montessori Nursery School to consider four-year-old Tholakele Nkosi for enrolment without considering her health.
Tholakele's foster mother Karen Pereira had brought a lawsuit against the school for discriminating against her daughter based on her HIV-positive status.
Pereira's representatives, the Aids Law Project, said she had decided not put Tholakele up for enrolment at Buccleuch as she was already enrolled at another nursery school.
Spokeswoman Liesel Gerntholtz said the girl would go to the same school till the end of the year. She said the school Tholakele was in had a comprehensive programme to manage HIV.
Gerntholtz said Pereira told her Tholakele was happy at the school and she had decided it was not appropriate at this stage to move her.
Gerntholtz also dismissed media reports that the court made a judgement or a ruling on whether the school had refused Tholekele's application for enrolment. "The court indicated that if the school had done what it is accused of then that will be discrimination," Gerntholtz said.
Buccleuch's counsel had denied the allegations, saying the school never told Pereira that it would or would not admit the girl.
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