The Free State Department of Education has seemingly swept an incident of severe assault of a learner, allegedly by two male teachers of the Moemedi Secondary School in Bloemfontein, under the carpet.
The two teachers remain free from criminal charges of assault occasioning grievous bodily harm (GBH).
Now in Gr. 10, Mosa Gailele partly lost the hearing in his left ear following the assault, which allegedly occurred in September 2022 at the school in question.
Mosa has since undergone surgery on his ear at the Busamed Bram Fischer Private Hospital. It is believed the blows he suffered punctured his eardrum, resulting in a loss of hearing.
Mosa was one of three boys accused of inappropriately touching a girl learner. It is claimed the teachers who responded to the incident reacted aggressively, punishing the three boys for inappropriately touching the girl.
The boys were reportedly locked in a room, where they were assaulted – deemed a form of corporal punishment.
However, information gathered from a series of meetings involving parents and the school’s management show that there was no evidence of Mosa’s participation in the inappropriate touching of the girl learner.
Two years on, the provincial Department of Education remains silent regarding its probe into the alleged assault.
Upon the aggrieved parent, Josephine Gailele, speaking out publicly about her son’s assault, Howard Ndaba, spokesperson for the department, then indicated the department’s legal team would conduct an investigation.
Gailele came out publicly after not getting satisfactory answers from the school regarding the incident.
The then principal had promised to escalate the matter to the provincial Department of Education after Gailele had made him aware of the severity of assault, which saw Mosa undergo surgery.
However, BloemExpress reliably learnt the two teachers, whose identities are known to learners too, are still working at the school and no action was taken.
Repeated efforts to get the department’s comment on the matter proved futile.
Gailele has suffered another blow in her bid to get justice for her son. The Kagisanong police informed her the criminal case she had opened against the two teachers was dismissed in the Bloemfontein Magistrates’ Court, giving the reason for such as “not having enough evidence”.
Gailele lamented the financial costs of the assault, the cost of surgery on Mosa, amounting to more than R30 000, and the costs she continues paying for her son – which include the services of a psychologist for counselling.
