The suspended principal of Merchiston Preparatory School faces possible dismissal after a disciplinary hearing found him guilty of assaulting, intimidating and abusive conduct towards pupils.
Llewellyn Bragin was placed on precautionary suspension in September after allegations from staff, parents and pupils that he was a bully.
The school governing body (SGB) took this step after the KwaZulu-Natal education department failed to take any action against him.
The SGB then conducted its own disciplinary inquiry, chaired by local attorney Conan O’Dwyer, in Bragin’s absence after he challenged the jurisdiction of the committee.
Though initially it was reported that there were 21 complainants, O’Dwyer considered three allegations of misconduct and found Bragin guilty of all three.
The SGB is far more capable of dealing with its own employee issues and should not be penalised by the infallible tardiness of bureaucracy.
— Attorney Conan O’Dwyer, disciplinary inquiry chair
The first, an assault of a pupil, related to an incident on March 17, when Bragin shouted at a grade 2 pupil, grabbed his phone then slammed it into the child’s lap.
The mother, who was present, testified that her son has Asperger’s and became hyperfocused and oblivious to his surroundings while on his phone. Bragin had walked past and the boy had ignored him. This prompted the incident.
His mother reported a delayed reaction in her son who, a day later, developed an irrational fear of his own death and that of his mother.
The second allegation concerned an incident on August 22 2022, when Bragin told a grade 3 pupil that he was a belligerent child and that he was going to call the police to fetch him and place him in a juvenile detention centre and he would never see his mother again.
Again the mother witnessed this incident. She said her son had various mental issues and on that day he had a panic attack about a looming test. She had advised staff at the school about this and that he might lash out physically.
Shortly afterwards, she was called back to the school by Bragin, who said her son had assaulted five staff members. When she returned, Bragin was asking him leading questions to admit that he was bad. Bragin then made the threat to call the police if he did not apologise.
The mother said that this resulted in a significant step back in his treatment and he might never be able to be in a school like Merchiston again.
Allegation three was bringing the school’s good name into disrepute — related to various newspaper articles focusing on the allegations of his “generally unbecoming behaviour”.
O’Dwyer said Bragin and his union representatives had argued that the SGB was not his employer, that only the department or the South African Council for Educators (Sace) had authority over him, and he thus did not recognise the SGB’s authority to discipline him.
They left the hearing after O’Dwyer cautioned them that it would proceed in their absence.
O’Dwyer, in considering the jurisdiction submission, referred to a labour court judgment in which Bragin secured an order against the SGB that it continue to pay him.
Evidence in that case was that the SGB paid him R38,000 a month for performing “additional services”, over and above what the department gave him.
The judge ruled that this was a “contract of employment”.
O’Dwyer said this meant unequivocally that the SGB was Bragin’s employer and SGBs should not be at the mercy of the department or Sace’s “sluggish pace of finalising investigations and consequent disciplinary action”.
“The SGB is far more capable of dealing with its own employee issues and should not be penalised by the infallible tardiness of bureaucracy.”
O’Dwyer set the matter down for submissions in mitigation and aggravation for November 17.
He said should Bragin refuse to attend, he could make written submissions.
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