Teacher who assaulted 'uneducated thing' for enforcing Covid rules loses his job

A teacher fired for grabbing a female security guard by the throat and assaulting her for attempting to enforce Covid-19 safety protocols when pupils arrived at a school in Limpopo won't get his job back.

The Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) has ruled the dismissal of Kgabo Petrus Mabitsela for assaulting Selelo Sarah Motsoko in 2021 was “substantively fair”.

Mabitsela, who taught at Flora Park Comprehensive School, hauled the education department to the ELRC after a disciplinary hearing cost him his job. He denied the allegation and asked for reinstatement. But arbitrator Matthews Ramotshela dismissed the application.

Motsoko told the arbitrator she had been “living with pain” after the incident.

She testified that Mabitsela arrived at the school gate on November 22 2021 driving a minibus, transporting pupils.

“She requested [Mabitsela] to disembark the learners so that they could walk through the pedestrian gate in compliance with Covid-19 rules. The small gate is for learners to walk through while the big gate is for motor vehicles and learners are not allowed to use the big gate,” read the ruling delivered this month.

“Having asked [Mabitsela] to disembark the learners from the vehicle, his response was that he does not talk with ‘things that are not educated’. It was then that he disembarked from the vehicle.”

Motsoko testified that Mabitsela then “approached her, grabbed her by the throat and hit her to the ground.

“When she was on the ground [Mabitsela] went back to his car and stuck his head out through the window and said the following in Sepedi: ‘topa mpya yeo’ [pick up that dog]. When she raised her head she saw another man standing beside her. That man did not touch her,” read the ruling.

“[Mabitsela] drove his car and stopped it next to her legs and then alighted, picked her up and hurled her towards a dustbin on the pavement. Thereafter he went back to his car and drove through the main gate with the pupils still passengers.

“Shortly after that, that man who was standing beside her walked her to the office. As they were walking, that man pleaded with her not to open any case against the employee because they work together.”

Motsoko went to hospital and reported the assault to police. A case is pending.

“After consulting, the doctor confirmed that she was injured on the spinal cord. As it appears ... the clinical findings mention complications of painful lower back right buttock,” read the ruling.

Valencia McNeil, a doctor at Mankwaneng hospital,  examined Motsoko four days after the incident.

“When she examined her she noticed that she had a limping gait. Further examinations of her lower back revealed that there was a swelling and tenderness. Those findings are in line with a blunt trauma injury. Based on these findings, it confirms that indeed she was assaulted,” the ruling reads.

Mabitsela testified that he ran a transport business catering for some of the school pupils. He claimed that on the day in question, he tried to open the gate. Motsoko pulled it back and the “tussle escalated into a tug of the gate between the two: one trying to open and the other trying to close.

“In the process Sarah missed the gate and fell just in the middle of the gateway, making it impossible for the car to pass,” read the ruling.

“[Mabitsela] then approached Sarah and tried to get her to the side by carrying her. He put her down and went back to his car and drove in.”

He said the children had already entered the school premises when the tussle ensued.

“He did not ask Sarah why, when he was trying to open the gate, she was closing it, because of a similar incident that happened around March 2021 when Sarah closed the gate and locked it with the result that all the teachers that came afterwards were locked outside,” the ruling reads.

Ramotshela found this testimony by Mabitsela to be “highly improbable”.

“He remains silent as to why he would even engage in a tussle with the security officer regarding the gate when in fact it is the security officer who controls access to school premises. Furthermore, he alleges that he never uttered any words to the security officer yet they were engaged in a tussle that really was about whether the gate should be open or closed,” Ramotshela noted in the ruling.

“I accordingly arrive at the inevitable finding that the employee committed misconduct that was sufficiently serious to warrant a dismissal. Dismissal was thus the appropriate sanction. I find that the employer has proven it had valid reasons for the termination of the employment relationship.”

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