Africa-Press – South-Africa. A Gauteng teacher has been found not guilty after a Grade 8 pupil accused him of sexual misconduct.
The Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) found Gauteng mathematics teacher Thomas Sombane not guilty after it found the pupil had contradicted herself.
The council also found she was “unreliable and not trustworthy”.
The pupil had accused Sombane of pointing at his private parts and saying: Ufunani la kimi (what do you want from me). She also accused him of brushing her thigh.
She said this happened in 2019 while other pupils were present.
According to the council, the pupil denied being problematic. And for her, ufunani la kimi meant Sombane wanted to “sleep with her”.
One of her classmates confirmed the incidents to the council. But two other pupils, who were in class at the time of the alleged incident, accused the complainant and her friend of lying.
One of them, who testified in favour of the teacher, said Sombane had a “good relationship with learners”, adding she had never seen him touching pupils inappropriately.
“He [would] would commend learners who [do] well and correct the ones who need to be corrected. She was seated in the front of the class and could see Learner A to her left.
“Learner A [the complainant] does not listen in class and [is] always called to order. When [the complainant] was corrected, she would not listen and do the same thing over again,” read the ruling.
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The pupil said the complainant and her friend “misbehaved in class” and were both “troublesome”.
ELRC arbitrator S Fourie found the complainant was “indeed a troublesome learner”.
Fourie said Sombane was truthful in his testimony, adding he had no problem with the pupils.
“She was troublesome, but he never reported her but could deal with her in reprimanding her.”
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