The SA Human Rights Commission is investigating a case of a teacher who is paying maintenance for a baby he fathered with a schoolgirl.
Victor Mavhidula, provincial manager for the SAHRC in Limpopo, confirmed that the matric pupil was impregnated by the teacher when she was 17 years old.
This comes amid recent revelations in the Sunday Times about a KwaZulu-Natal teacher who has been bribing the family of a girl he impregnated with cash and groceries every month to prevent them from reporting the matter to the authorities.
Mavhidula said the girl confirmed the teacher was paying maintenance for their baby.
“The teacher was not supporting the child until such time the matter was taken to the maintenance court. The girl went to school first and started fighting with the teacher and he agreed to pay maintenance.”
He said the confrontation confirmed that the teacher was the father of the child.
“But it doesn’t mean if you are paying maintenance, you have not raped a child.”
But it doesn’t mean if you are paying maintenance, you have not raped a child.
— Victor Mavhidula, provincial manager for the SAHRC in Limpopo
Mavhidula said he was very concerned about the role of teachers, health workers and child maintenance officials in cases where underage girls fell pregnant.
“The Children’s Act is very clear about what is expected of different professionals. But I don’t think we are doing what we are supposed to do to protect our children.”
He said nurses at the clinic the girl visited while pregnant should have questioned her about the father of the child.
“When the matter went to the maintenance court, the officials should have also asked questions. They didn’t just have to focus on the maintenance part of it.”
Through Mavhidula’s intervention, police were able to arrest Solomon Makhuvha, 50, a former teacher of Mbilwi Secondary, in May for allegedly raping a matric pupil in 2018.
He was granted bail of R3,000 in June by the Thohoyandou magistrate’s court after being charged with three counts of rape.
Masikhwa Tshilidzi, executive director of the Thohoyandou Victim Empowerment Programme (TVEP), said they had implemented a programme at 16 high schools in Venda to address sexual assault, teenage pregnancy, bullying and gender-based violence.
“TVEP has developed different curricula for use during the life orientation periods to address social ills experienced by pupils.”
He said that in a baseline study conducted at the 16 schools, 30% of the pupils confirmed that they fell in love with teachers or were proposed to by them.
“Unfortunately, they [pupils] because of poverty often refuse to disclose to avoid losing the benefits.”
You will find that some girls who refuse the teacher’s advances are being forced to move to another school.
— Masikhwa Tshilidzi, executive director of the Thohoyandou Victim Empowerment Programme
Tshilidzi said some pupils were victims of what is commonly known as “STM”, or “sexually transmitted marks”, where teachers would “penalise” a girl if she refused to fall in love with him.
“You will find that some girls who refuse the teacher’s advances are being forced to move to another school.”
He said the practice of teachers paying maintenance for children they fathered was “hidden”, adding: “Even if he’s paying maintenance, a pupil will not disclose that. In some cases the families are aware and the only time you will find out is if he’s not keeping the promise.”
One hundred and seven schoolgirls fell pregnant last year at 14 of the 16 schools that were involved in the TVEP project.
Sinikiwe Biyela, director of Lifeline Pietermaritzburg in KZN, told Sunday Times Daily that staff were not aware of cases in which teachers were paying maintenance for children they fathered with schoolgirls.
“The staff think that this is due to the fact that parents of the girls are not keen on reporting such incidents as it will jeopardise the teacher’s future and the income they receive from these educators.”
Shaheda Omar, clinical director of the Teddy Bear Clinic for Abused Children, said for some poorer children coming from impoverished and marginalised communities, “it’s easier to gravitate to somebody who is offering you material things in exchange for sexual favours”.
“A child in an affluent community has a cellphone, fancy clothes and lives in a comfortable home. But for the poor child it’s different. There’s the usual five Cs that come into play which are cars, clothes, cash, cellphones and cosmetics.”
Omar said mothers and grandmothers of the pregnant teenager also celebrated her “oncoming birth” by holding baby showers where people bring nappies and other gifts.
“While the intentions may be noble, I think that often the message is misinterpreted. It gives a licence to a child that, ‘Look, how much prominence that child [teenage mother] is getting. They are celebrating the oncoming baby.’ There should be conversations around that.”
Ella Mokgalane, CEO of the SA Council for Educators (Sace), recently said: “Parents are selling the souls of their children and this is something of great concern to us.”
One hundred and sixty-seven cases of sexual misconduct involving teachers, including 49 for sexual assault, 30 for having sexual relationships with pupils and 14 for rape, were reported to Sace from April 2020 to July 2021.
Department of health figures revealed that 132,612 girls aged 15 to 19 fell pregnant in 2020 and a further 35,209 between January and March this year.
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