The girl with a gold nose ring

Durban-based Navi Pillay, 41, is a feisty, independent-minded woman. Her family has been in South Africa for three generations, but she still feels very close to her cultural Hindu traditions. The trouble began, when in keeping with her family traditions, (Navi says she is just a regular South Indian woman) Sunali had her nose pierced, with a gold nose stud, in 2004, after she had just turned 15. Unfortunately for her, the school had a strict code of conduct which banned the wearing of any jewellery except plain ear studs and watches. The school authorities felt she could not wear the nose stud, but allowed her a few week’s grace period so that the hole would heal. However, Sunali did not remove the nose stud, even after that.

Navi protested that this nose stud was not just “jewellery” but was a part of Sunali’s cultural heritage, and that all women in their family have worn a nose ring. However, the school did not respond favourably to the argument, and insisted that Sunali would have to remove her nose stud. In the exchange of letters between Navi and the school, Sunali was even threatened with expulsion.

“They were not transparent about why Sunali could not wear the nose stud. There were girls in the school who were wearing tongue rings and belly button rings, and nothing was said to them, perhaps because these things were not as visible as a nose stud. But I think it also became an ego issue,” says Navi.

Finally, she decided to take the matter to the equality court. But when the equality court found that there was no case for discrimination against Sunali — Navi did not give up the fight. She took the case to the high court.

It was a difficult decision for her because Navi does not have the economic resources to keep up a persistent court battle. But she was helped by the fact that the case in itself was an important landmark — it was the very first case from the equality court to go into appeal to the high court. Her own personal relationship with a lawyer in the high court also helped, as the complicated legalities were explained to her and the Lawyers For Human Rights organised her senior counsel who could further represent her.

Her appeal was successful — and the high court overturned the decision of the equality court finding that the school had, indeed, discriminated against Sunali and that the discrimination was unfair. The high court declared the decision prohibiting the wearing of a nose stud in school by Hindu/ Indian learners to be null and void. It was a huge victory for Navi and Sunali.

But the school and the department decided to appeal, this time to the highest court in the land: The constitutional court of South Africa. They argued that the case is important because it affects all schools in South Africa. Further, the school submitted “a uniform is an important part of maintaining discipline and a high standard of education at schools and that it is better placed than a court to determine appropriate behavior at the school.”

Navi argued that the decision “not to allow Sunali to wear the nose stud violates Sunali’s rights to equality under the Promotion of Equality and Prevention of Unfair Discrimination Act as well as her constitutional rights to freedom of religion and freedom of expression.” She also said that the nose stud is part of their cultural and religious heritage and should be allowed in a society which embraces diversity.

As we sit in the beautifully appointed constitutional court which is dedicated to the fundamental values of freedom, the arguments over Sunali’s tiny nose stud rage fiercely. She, of course, has since matriculated from school and is now off to study in Rhodes University. Time has moved on in the last two years — but enshrined in her absurdly small nose ring is the essence of cultural diversity. In the next few weeks, all eleven judges of the constitutional court will give their ruling on Sunali’s right to have worn her nose ring to school.

Is it through small things like this that the story of cultural freedom will be finally told?

The writer is a senior journalist