He’s been found guilty of sexually harassing a pupil at his KwaZulu-Natal school‚ but still this principal has been paid more than R1.2-million in the past two years.
The principal - whose name is known to TimesLIVE – has been on suspension since at least November 2014‚ and continues to pocket his R35 336 salary. This was confirmed by the provincial education department in an official response to questions asked by DA MPL Mbali Ntuli.
Ntuli asked the department to provide details on the number of staff suspended‚ and the response covered the period from November 2014 to November 2016. This principal was one of 33 suspended staff who pocketed a combined nearly R9.3-million over the 24 months.
He had been‚ according to the response‚ “found guilty‚ appealed the sanction of dismissal” and had been paid R1 236 760 for the period. His official charge is “sexual harassment”.
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TimesLIVE is in possession of the full response.
He is not alone.
Four other principals in the province are on precautionary suspension for sexual offences;
Fifteen other staffers‚ ranging from educators to cleaners to security guards‚ are also suspended on sexual offense charges.
The other 13 charges were of alleged gross insubordination‚ corporal punishment‚ financial mismanagement‚ physical altercations and the unauthorised selling of a state vehicle.
“You would think that effective steps would be in place to protect our children and get these predators criminally prosecuted‚ but that doesn’t seem to be the case‚” said Ntuli.
She said that‚ while the huge sums of money being paid to errant teachers was a worry‚ the “biggest problems” were the prevalence of sexual offences and the length of time it was taking for the disciplinary processes to be dealt with.
“We will be following this up‚” said Ntuli.
TMGDigital reported on Wednesday that‚ according to the SA Council of Educators 2015/16 annual report‚ 97 cases of sexual misconduct were investigated across the country.
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This was the second-most common offense by educators‚ only behind corporal punishment.
The education department’s response also revealed that officials and teachers racked up 6257 days off as a result of suspension‚ sick leave or absenteeism without leave between November 2014 and November 2016.
– TMG Digital/TimesLIVE
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