SACE reveals 11 teachers fired over misconduct charges, including sexual offences against learners

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SACE reveals 11 teachers fired over misconduct charges, including sexual offences against learners
SACE reveals 11 teachers fired over misconduct charges, including sexual offences against learners

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Cape Town – A total of 11 teachers have been axed by the department after they were found guilty of a range of charges, including sexual misconduct.

The South African Council of Educators (SACE) was appearing before Parliament on Wednesday when it listed cases of misconduct against teachers.

The council received 443 cases of misconduct against educators for the 2020/21 financial year.

During a briefing to Parliament’s portfolio committee on education on Wednesday, SACE CEO Ella Mokgalane broke down the figures per quarter since April 2020.

The top three categories of cases of professional and unethical misconduct against educators during the period under review included corporal punishment and assault; sexual misconduct, which included rape, indecent assault, sexual assault and sexual harassment; and verbal abuse or use of improper language, victimisation, harassment, defamation among other things.

The first quarter (April 2020 – June 2020) saw the council receive 42 complaints. This figure jumped to 106 cases of misconduct (July- September) and plummeted to 40 in the third quarter (October – December ).

Come fourth quarter (January 2021 to March 2021), and SACE had received 255 cases of misconduct as at the end of February.

According to Mokgalane, 255 of the 443 cases comprise 56% of the total cases reported in the fourth quarter.

Mokgalane gave a further breakdown of the 11 teachers removed from the SACE register per province, and indicated that five of these misconduct cases were linked to sexual misconduct which saw two Gauteng teachers, one Free State teacher, one North West teacher and one teacher from the Western Cape being fired.

Mpumalanga saw two cases of teachers being involved in severe assault of learners, while one teacher was let go for the sexual harassment of a colleague in Gauteng.

Again in Mpumalanga, one teacher was removed from the SACE register for locking up a learner in a storeroom.

A Free State teacher was let go for the assault of a colleague and a Gauteng teacher was dismissed for the sexual harassment of learners.

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