Valhalla teacher accused of sexually assaulting pupils arrested

The Valhalla Primary School teacher who stands accused of sexually assaulting about 23 pupils is behind bars, the Gauteng department of education said on Thursday.

"[He] was arrested this afternoon," said spokesperson Steve Mabona.

The teacher was expected to appear in the Pretoria magistrate's court on Friday.

He had been removed from the Centurion school on Wednesday after the department acted on allegations that a string of pupils had fallen prey to him.

A team of officials from the district, as well as the department's psycho-social unit, had gone to the school following reports that parents were planning a meeting and had threatened to pull their children out of the school.

This was not just because of the allegations, but because the teacher was still teaching there in spite of the allegations.

Mabona had told TimesLIVE that the matter was first reported to the department at the end of January.

He stressed that the department had a zero-tolerance approach to allegations of sexual misconduct, and had on Wednesday said that if the allegations were proven to be true, it would take decisive action against the perpetrator.