AfriForum says it will legally challenge the leadership of the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) after alleged "hate speech" chanting at a protest on Wednesday.

The organisation's deputy CEO Ernst Roets said its legal team would on Thursday serve the party' top tier leadership with a letter asking them to explain their stance on the incident.

"If these actions do not comply with EFF policies, we demand that the party distances itself unconditionally and institutes disciplinary action," said Roets.

He added that, if the party was unwilling to distance itself from the alleged "hate speech", AfriForum would "lay a complaint of hate speech against [it] in terms of the Equality Act".

But, EFF spokesperson Mbuyiseni Ndlozi said: "We have too much on our plate to respond to them."

Fifteen people were arrested for public violence following protest action in front of Hoërskool Overvaal in Vereeniging, Gauteng police confirmed on Wednesday afternoon.

AfriForum alleges that the EFF chanted "white man you must die" and "shoot to kill the Boer" outside the school.

An estimated 100 protesters gathered in front of the high school after 55 pupils, to be taught in English, were denied access to the predominantly Afrikaans school, despite a Gauteng Department of Education directive. The school went to court to challenge the department's order.

Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi said the 55 pupils rejected by Hoërskool Overvaal had been placed in a nearby school.

Lesufi, who was visiting the newly reopened Everest Primary School in Westbury, did not name the other school.

"I met with the parents [of the 55 pupils] yesterday. It was a long meeting, very painful meeting, but I'm glad that they agreed that we can locate those children from Overvaal and take them to a nearby school," Lesufi told journalists.

"The sad thing, which is very painful and the parents raised with me, is that they don’t have money to transport children to that areas because Overvaal was closer to them. Now they have to budget and make other things," he added.