Sexual predator teachers slip through the cracks in Eastern Cape

At least eight Eastern Cape teachers have been dismissed for sexual misconduct since the beginning of the year. 

But on each occasion when the Dispatch sought further clarity from the education department, the response was that the perpetrator had been dismissed, but the department had not reported a criminal complaint to the police.

Though by law officials must report matters of sexual misconduct to the police, Eastern Cape education department spokesperson Malibongwe Mtima claimed that the department’s duty was to charge the perpetrator internally.

“The guys are dismissed and therefore are no longer our employees.”

But experts said the fear was the perpetrators would find other jobs working with children because unless they were convicted by a court, their names would not be listed on the National Register for Sex Offenders.

Bernice Loxton of the Education Labour Relations Council said it was the responsibility of the department to ensure these matters were reported to the police.

“They are obligated in terms of Section 54 of the Criminal Law [Sexual Offences and Related Matters] Amendment Act 32 of 2007.”

National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) spokesperson Luxolo Tyali said anyone, including teachers, aware of a teacher involved in a sexual relationship with a minor was obliged to report the case or they, too, could be liable for prosecution.

This included any person in authority who had been made aware of such incidents.

Masimanyane Women’s Rights International founder and executive director Dr Lesley Ann Foster said: “One of the reasons we are not winning the struggle on increased levels of rape and sexual violence is due to this kind of ball passing.

“The perpetrators are dismissed, and this is thought to be enough.

“What we know is that they will be employed in other schools, probably private schools.

“Their records of sexual abuse do not follow them, so they continue to abuse the girls now under their control.

“This speaks to a lack of due diligence by the departments affected.

“It’s not just laziness or a lack of understanding but an intentional reluctance to fully hold perpetrators to account.”

Two Eastern Cape teachers were recently dismissed after being found guilty of sexual misconduct.

A Cradock teacher was alleged to have had a sexual relationship with a teenager, now 19, since she was 14.

The matter came to the attention of the girl’s grandmother when she did not sleep at home.

When she investigated, another teacher told her where she would find her granddaughter.

During her testimony at an Education Labour Relations Council hearing, the girl said she and the teacher had been involved in a sexual relationship since she was 14, and that she had consumed alcohol.

The teacher denied this during his testimony. He said it was the pupil who wanted to have sex with him, but he rejected her advances.

He said he started the relationship with her only when she left the school.

In October, arbitrator Mbulelo Safa found the teacher guilty and ordered his dismissal.

In another matter, a 59-year-old teacher at a primary school in Gqeberha was dismissed in September for inappropriate sexual conduct with an 11-year-old pupil.

The grade 5 pupil testified that in June 2023, the teacher lifted her skirt and touched her panties, something she said he had been doing since she was in grade 3, in 2022.

The previous incident was never reported but only emerged during her testimony about the 2023 incident.

The girl testified that on the day of the incident, their class teacher was not on duty and two classes were combined into one.

The teacher entered the grade 3 class and went to sit at the table behind the pupils.

The girl told the hearing the teacher instructed her to borrow a tea bag from another teacher.

When she returned, the teacher instructed the class to put their heads on their desks, and then he lifted her skirt and touched her private parts.

She said afterwards she had felt violated.

She cried, and ran to report the matter to her aunt, who was a meal server at the school.

Another witness, a pupil who was in grade 4, testified that she and another pupil pretended to have put their heads down but looked at what the teacher was doing.

She said they knew that the teacher would touch the girl, as he used to touch them when they were in grade 3.

The grade 4 pupil testified that the teacher instructed the victim to open her thighs and touched her.

The aunt testified that she was cooking when two pupils came running into the kitchen.

Her niece was crying and shaking. She said the pupil told her a teacher had asked her to open her thighs, and had touched her.

At the end of the school day, the aunt went to the girl’s grandmother and asked the victim to tell her what had happened.

The school principal, who was not at school on the Friday of the incident, testified that she called a staff meeting on the Monday to inform the teachers of what had happened.

Her evidence focused on the attendance register. She testified that the teacher only signed the register when he felt like it.

Sometimes he would stay away from work but not submit any leave form or sick certificate.

The teacher, who had in the interim been transferred to a school in Dutywa, pleaded not guilty to the allegations.

He said he had not been at school on the day in question, and the principal had a vendetta against him.

Arbitrator Malusi Mbuli said the teacher could not use the attendance register as an excuse as he could have chosen not to sign it.

Mbuli said the versions of all four witnesses agreed the teacher had been at school on the day.

The teacher could no longer be trusted to work in a school environment where there were children.

Mbuli found the teacher guilty and ordered his employment to be terminated with immediate effect.

He also ruled that his SA Council of Educators certificate be revoked.

In a separate incident mentioned in the arbitration, but not canvassed further, the same teacher was accused of kissing another pupil, fondling her breasts and propositioning her for sex in February 2023.

He had also allegedly requested the pupil’s contact numbers and instructed her not to tell anyone about what happened.

Children’s rights activist Petros Majola said the law obliged people with knowledge of crimes, including sexual relationships with minors and sexual assault, to report them to authorities.

But he said in a number of cases where the department fired teachers for having sexual relations with pupils, the pupils were over the age of consent.

“[I know of] some cases being investigated by the police. One is in Ngcobo ... it was reported by teachers ... another one is in Barkly East.”

Majola said the department mainly used the Employment of Educators Act, which prohibits sexual relations between teachers and pupils, to dismiss teachers.

Attempts to get comment from the national education department were unsuccessful by the time of publication.

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