When a principal and her deputy approached a teacher seated in her car at school and asked her to come to the office because a circuit manager wanted to see her, she blatantly refused.
Instead, she got out of her car and went to a class.
Arabang Semunza’s failure to obey “reasonable instructions” cost her a job at Connie Minchin Primary School in Mahikeng in North West after she was dismissed on January 13 last year for misconduct.
She then lodged a dispute with the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC), a bargaining chamber for educators, and arbitration hearings took place on October 31 and November 28 last year and January 24 and March 2 and 28.
On Thursday, arbitrator Thobela Ncetezo found that Semunza’s dismissal was procedurally and substantively fair.
She was found guilty on eight charges, including corporal punishment; failing to sign the staff register; refusing to attend a meeting in the principal’s office; refusing to undergo Covid-19 screening; and failing to submit grades 4 and 6 life skills files for monitoring in terms one and two in 2021.
According to a transcript of the arbitration hearings, circuit manager Steven Kgosiema testified that principal Tebogo Ntoahae reported to him that Semunza did not report for work nor sign the attendance register.
She did not cover the full syllabus of the subject allocated to her, conduct which Kgosiema said was unacceptable.
“He was also told that the Semunza would stay in her car, not the staffroom, and leave without seeking permission from the principal, even though the rules state that a teacher must be in the staffroom when they are not in class.”
He visited the school on August 3 2021 in a bid to address the issue, but Semunza did not come to the principal’s office when asked to do so.
The applicant never signed the attendance register because she was always late for work, which starts at 07.30am.
— Tebogo Ntoahae, school principal
According to the document, he asked the principal to approach Semunza, who was sitting in her car, but she told the principal and her deputy she was busy when they approached her.
During Kgosiema’s visit, he checked the school timetable and discovered that Semunza was sitting in her car when she was supposed to be in class.
He then instructed Ntoahae to institute disciplinary action against her.
“Even after my visit, she continued to absent herself from class and not teach pupils.”
Ntoahae told the hearing she asked Kgosiema to help her as Semunza was “regularly absent from work”.
“The applicant never signed the attendance register because she was always late for work, which starts at 07.30am.”
Ntoahae denied that Semunza had submitted a medical certificate, stating that had she done so, such information would have been entered in the attendance register next to her name.
“Because her whereabouts were not known, nothing could be written next to her name. In terms of the rules, a teacher who is not at work must communicate with her principal.”
Ntoahae testified that Semunza “would sometimes claim that she was not well but not submit a medical certificate”.
Deputy principal Brian Moketedi also testified that the educator “would sit in her car most of the time when she was at school”.
She reported for work at 9am or 10am, “and she would also refuse to go to class when he told her to”.
She showed disrespect to her seniors, including a senior official who visited the school to address her conduct.
— Thobela Ncetezo, arbitrator
According to him, “pupils also reported that she did not go to class even when she was within the school premises”.
He said he was responsible for screening teachers for Covid-19 but that Semunza refused to be screened and sanitised even when he instructed her to do so.
“Her refusal to be screened and sanitised was endangering the lives of teachers and pupils as one would not know their Covid-19 status.”
Bertha Kgosiemang, a head of department, stated the teacher did not submit her subject file and “therefore there was no evidence of the work that was done”.
“There was also no evidence that the pupils had been assessed.”
However, during her testimony, Semunza insisted she had always submitted her files as required.
She further testified that it would not have been possible for her to teach without her subject file “as they were bound to always have these files”.
According to the transcript, she denied that she was ever called to the office for failing to attend to her classes.
“She also denied that she refused to be screened for Covid-19. She further denied that she missed any classes and testified that she would move from one class to the other.”
She stated she was sick from April to July 2021 and had submitted a medical certificate to the principal.
She denied slapping a pupil, saying she was never even informed of the incident.
Semunza stated she could not attend the disciplinary hearing because she did not receive a notice to attend it.
“She also did not receive the finding of the presiding officer but was only served with the request for a mitigation statement on October 13, which she submitted on October 15. After receiving a dismissal letter, she appealed.”
Ncetezo said in his award that it was evident she “showed disrespect to her seniors, including a senior official who visited the school to address her conduct”.
“The demeanour of the applicant [Semunza] gave the impression of a lack of remorse and understanding of the consequences of her actions.”
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