A geography teacher at a KwaDukuza secondary school has been fired for “grooming” one of his Grade 10 pupils, in the hope of having a sexual relationship with her.
“Where an educator grooms a learner for sexual conduct in a number of ways over a period of time, despite all of her resistance, that educator is a predator and cannot be employed as an educator,” Education Labour Relations Council panellist Vashnee Naidoo said in her recent ruling.
The pupil, who Naidoo described as a credible witness, painted a very clear picture of how the teacher's advances escalated to eventually professing love for her.
The pupil also said no one believed her, so she devised a plan to collect evidence to prove what was happening. She said it began when the teacher started “looking at her differently”, noting that she was unlike the others, was well disciplined and didn’t hang around with boys.
He told her she was beautiful and that he was available.
“I laughed it off and said, ‘Sir, at your age’,” she testified.
“He said he would do anything for me. I took it as a joke, but he had a serious gesture and a straight face.”
She said she told a friend about the incident, who responded that the teacher must have been joking. The behaviour continued, she said.
On one occasion he told her he loved her. She was irritated and changed her seat from the front of the class to the back, “with the boys”.
When her friends still refused to believe her she devised 'a plan'. She gave him her cellphone number and started saving his messages and recording his calls.
He then started hitting the boys she was sitting with. He would also lash out at her and scold her. She stopped attending the geography class. He would send others to call her.
One day he said he would do anything to be in a love relationship with her. She replied, “No thank you”.
When her friends still refused to believe her she devised “a plan”. She gave him her cellphone number and started saving his messages and recording his calls.
On the day of the final incident, in January 2019, he said he wanted to take her to his home. He said she must wait in the car park and he went to reception to ask for sick leave.
He arranged for another teacher to drop them off at a mall because he needed to go to a cellphone shop. She knew that there they would be picked up by CCTV footage.
They then walked towards his house and he “started talking sex” with her and told her there was no one at home.
She stood still and said: “This is where everything stops.” She told him she was recording him and had saved all of his messages. He said he would “do anything and offered her money to delete them”, but she replied that she wanted justice.
She returned to school and informed a counsellor about what had been going on.
The teacher, who had been employed at the school for 12 years, denied the allegations.
He said on the day in question he had been feeling ill and had been given leave to go home. He said the principal had asked the other teacher to take him and the pupil, who was also feeling ill, to town.
He claimed to be a victim of a 'conspiracy' and 'politics', and that the principal wanted him fired.
They had both gone to the mall — she had wanted to go to Pick n Pay — and then walked towards a clinic, which was in the same direction as his house.
He said she started asking him questions about pupils and colleagues, then suddenly told him she was recording him and turned around. He didn’t ask why.
He went straight home. He claimed to be a victim of a “conspiracy” and “politics”, and that the principal wanted him fired.
But Naidoo said his version “made no sense”.
She said he had not dealt with any of the incidents described by the pupil before what happened on that final day.
He had also failed to put his “conspiracy” version to her in cross-examination. He also did not call the other teacher to support his version.
KZN education spokesperson Kwazi Mthethwa said this type of behaviour could never be condoned.
“We obviously welcome any action that seeks to eliminate bad behaviour on the part of educators.”
