KZN sex-tape teacher warned pupils 'to be wary of boys'

He was a soft-spoken, entertaining and pious man who prayed at his school's assemblies, liked gospel music, regularly taught Bible studies to his pupils and colleagues, and often posted religious statements on his Facebook page. He even counselled teenage pupils on morality.

But this portrait is far from the one now being painted by former colleagues and the KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng education departments, who are investigating claims that the teacher had sex with his pupils on multiple occasions in both provinces.

The moustached 45-year-old father of five, whose name is known to the Sunday Times, has been suspended from his position as a teacher at Ekucabangeni High School in Nquthu, northern KwaZulu-Natal, after graphic videos of him having sex with three women were circulated on social media.

Since a visit by KwaZulu-Natal education MEC Mthandeni Dlungwane to the school last week, six girls have come forward to claim the teacher had sex with them.

And it has emerged that the South African Council of Educators is investigating claims that he had been accused of the same offence at Mgazi High School, also in Nquthu.

The man's lawyer, Bruce Macgregor, said the teacher denied all the allegations against him. He also denied that the women on the videos were his pupils - or schoolgirls at all.

"The videos date back many years, as do the relationships with the three adult women concerned. [The teacher] strongly disputes the allegations made by the six pupils who have allegedly come forward ... he has no idea as to how he has become targeted."

Macgregor said that one of the women in the videos was the teacher's common-law wife, while the other two were "clearly not learners".

However, the KwaZulu-Natal education department is adamant that the women had been his pupils, while a former colleague at a school where he was accused of impregnating two pupils said: "His weakness was learners."

The accused teacher, who has reportedly been working in the profession for 22 years and previously taught in Durban, denied these claims, too.

One of the women in the videos, a 27-year-old, told the Sunday Times this week that while she was no longer a pupil at the time the sex tape was made, her relationship with the teacher had started while she was still at school.

"I was shocked when I learnt about the video and I watched it a little bit. I didn't know that he was taking a video of us having sex," she said.

The video appears to have been shot on a cellphone.

How do you sleep with children and take videos of them while having sex? Even if it's your wife, why do you take a video?

Another video, which also appears to have been filmed by the teacher holding the phone in one hand, shows him having sex with a pregnant woman who, according to Macgregor, is the man's common-law wife.

"I have taken it very badly. I did not have the courage to watch them,"

A team from the South African Council of Educators travelled to Nquthu this week for what they thought would be a straightforward probe into the claims at Ekucabangeni High.

However, spokesman Thembinkosi Ndhlovu said, they quickly realised there was more to the case. "This case has got a lot of issues. We are told that teacher once taught in Gauteng and did the same thing.

"It's gotten much more complicated, which is why we're giving ourselves time to collect all info. It's important for us to know that if the teacher taught in Gauteng, was he dismissed or what happened, how he moved to KwaZulu-Natal to continue doing what he was doing," said Ndhlovu.

Gauteng education department spokesman Oupa Bodibe said officials had been trying to find any reference to the teacher having worked in the province, but there was no evidence of this.

Meanwhile, the teacher's mother, Marriete, who met the Sunday Times at the family home in Ulundi, said the sex tape and ensuing controversy, allegations and counter-allegations had left the family shattered. "It's like a death has just happened in the family when no one has actually died," she said.

Marriete said her son was at her house last week after fleeing Nquthu when enraged pupils and community members set fire to his belongings in his cottage at the school - but that he had since left. "He wouldn't even say where he was going."

When she confronted him about the sex videos, he said nothing.

"How do you sleep with children and take videos of them while having sex? Even if it's your wife, why do you take a video?

"I have taken it very badly. I did not have the courage to watch them," she said.

A Grade 11 pupil at Ekucabangeni said the teacher often told girls during assembly to be "wary of boys because they were dangerous".

"You wouldn't expect him to do something like this because he always preached the gospel to the learners," said the pupil.

KwaZulu-Natal education spokesman Sihle Mlotshwa confirmed that the allegation that the teacher had previously committed similar offences "is part of our investigation".

Parents 'bribed' to ditch complaints

In just four years, more than 400 cases of "sexual misconduct, including rape" were lodged against South African teachers - but this is the tip of the iceberg as most incidents go unreported.

The South African Council of Educators says between April 2014 and March last year, 94 complaints of sexual misconduct were filed.

This was more than the 82 the previous year, but less than the 104 in the 2012-13 and the 126 in the 2011-12.

The figures show that, on average, a teacher is accused of sexual misconduct against a pupil every four days.

The figures for the most recent financial year were being verified and audited, said SACE spokesman Thembinkosi Ndhlovu. Whatever that figure might be the real number is considerably higher.

"While there are a number of cases that we're handling, we're fully cognisant ... that a lot of them go unreported. We need to conscientise members of society to report these incidents so that we're able to deal with them.

"Statistics ... [show] quite a number go unreported and, therefore, it gives these people the freedom to do what they're doing because they know they won't be reported," said Ndhlovu.

"We are picking up that teachers are giving parents bribes ... Sometimes a parent will be promised groceries of R350 a month, some will go up to R1,000. Some ... tell [parents] not to proceed with the case because they will pay lobola. Parents must refrain from making decisions that their children might regret."

Mark Hardwick, of child-protection service The Guardian, said schools had the responsibility to vet every teacher.

mthethwab@sundaytimes.co.za; savidesm@sundaytimes.co.za