Teboho Setena
The dismissal of a Makabelane Technical School teacher in Qwaqwa in the Eastern Free State regarding accusations of sexual misconduct, has received the thumbs up, with the provincial Department of Education called on to take even tougher action against sexual predators.
The department confirmed the firing of the unidentified perpetrator on 12 May, following an arbitration hearing that found the male teacher guilty.
Howard Ndaba, spokesperson for the department, said the verdict was handed down by the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) after finding the educator guilty of eight allegations of sexual misconduct involving three learners, which reportedly took place during the past two years.
Ndaba said the victims had been 14 and 16 years old, and another aged 18, when the abuse took place between 2023 and 2024. He said that in addition, the ELRC had also ruled that the educator was deemed unsuitable to work with children in terms of Section 120 (4) of the Children’s Act.
According to Ndaba, the department would ensure the victims receive the care and assistance they needed.
“Mostly importantly, we will prioritise the protection and support of our learners, ensuring they receive quality education in a safe environment. We are urging learners and teachers who have experienced abuse, or know someone who has, to report incidents to the relevant authorities.”
Welcoming the sacking of the teacher, Dulandi Leech, DA spokesperson on education in the Free State Legislature, has further called on the department to act urgently to resolve the remaining cases reported to the ELRC, a bargaining council that serves the public education sector nationally and provincially.
The call for concerted action and urgency from the provincial Department of Education is informed by the ELRC report for the 2024-’25 period. This states that 12 cases of sexual harassment and abuse of learners by teachers in the province were referred.
Leech’s evidence of widespread sexual misconduct in Free State schools further points to two incidents of the alleged rape of 17-year-old female learners by two teachers: at the Hentie Cilliers Hoërskool in Virginia, and the Dr Viljoen Combined School in Bloemfontein during April and October last year.
The alleged rape of the learner in Bloemfontein reported occurred just a little over ten days before the commencement of the matric final exams. Acting on the instruction of the MEC for Education, Dr Julia Maboya, the school granted the learner a special concession and provided an alternative safe venue where she could write her final matric exams away from the school. The department had also indicated that it would institute internal disciplinary processes to run parallel with the police investigation into the alleged rape matter.
Those processes will run parallel, but at the end of the day, the deparment states, it wants to make sure that justice is done to protect its learners at their schools, its teachers, and other stakeholders.
