A Pinetown schoolteacher accused by a grade 11 girl of raping her on two occasions has been dismissed and his name added to the sex offenders register.
Though he pleaded not guilty, claiming his accuser was drunk at the time and mistook him for someone else, the Education Labour Relations Council found that she had told the truth.
Arbitrator advocate Anashrin Pillay noted that the teacher, NF Thabethe, failed to file any closing arguments in the case brought against him by the KwaZulu-Natal education department.
Thabethe was employed as a teacher at Mariannridge Secondary School in the Pinetown district when he was charged with misconduct after the girl accused him of rape.
“The learner in this matter was under the age of 18 at the time. I accordingly refrain from disclosing the learner’s identity,” said Pillay, explaining why the girl was referred to only as ‘the complainant’.
The girl testified that she had first met Thabethe when she started grade 11 at the school in 2023. He was her history teacher. She said that on two occasions that year Thabethe had forced himself on her.
The first attack, she said, happened on Friday May 19 when the school held a talent show. She had gone to the show with friends. They left to go drinking but returned later. Thabethe shouted at them, saying they “smelt of alcohol”. They paid no attention and went back into the hall.
The complainant said she started feeling tipsy and decided to leave. On her way out Thabethe asked her where she was going, and she said she didn’t feel well and was going home.
He reminded her that she needed to collect her draft project from him, which was due that Monday. He asked her to wait while he fetched the project and she returned to the talent show.
Thabethe then sent the class captain to call her. She went to the office where she encountered Thabethe, who was with his friend Chiliza, an assistant teacher. Thabethe said he had been unable to find her project and asked her to follow them to his classroom.
Thabethe told her she was very pretty, and she ignored the comment. When they got to his classroom he found her project in a cupboard. He then asked for her number and she gave him the wrong one. He called it immediately and became aggressive when he realised this, so she felt forced to give him the correct number so she could get her project.
She was on her way home when Thabethe called her and told her he could see her. She realised that his friend Chiliza was standing at the gate to her home while Thabethe was standing in front of another house across the street. He told her he wanted to speak to her about school.
Goqo testified that she had noticed that the complainant was not her normal self and had repeatedly asked her what was wrong. Eventually the girl told her that a teacher had had sex with her against her will, and said it was Thabethe
She went to the house but didn’t want to go inside. But Chiliza told her Thabethe wanted to show her something and took her into a bedroom.
She asked Thabethe what was going on and he asked her how old she was. She said she was 16, and he started touching his private parts and told her she was turning him on.
He tried to kiss her and when she moved away he asked if she was a virgin. She told him she was. He then pulled her clothes off and sexually assaulted her.
When Thabethe saw there was blood on the bed, he said: “Oh! So you are a virgin.”
The complainant quickly dressed and went to her aunt’s flat where she had a bath and slept for most of the weekend. She didn’t tell her aunt what had happened.
A month later the complainant and her cousin went to a Youth Day event on June 16. They moved on to a house party where the complainant started feeling uncomfortable after seeing that Chiliza was there. She told her cousin she wanted to leave.
As they were leaving Thabethe arrived. She was shocked as it was a party for schoolchildren, and started to panic. Thabethe stopped her, and because she felt threatened she sat down.
She testified that Thabethe and several others at the party then started snorting cocaine.
After a while Thabethe started kissing her and demanded to have sex with her in front of his friends. He touched her inappropriately and made jokes before giving her the option of having sex in the presence of everyone or going with him to the bedroom.
The cousin protested but was stopped by boys in the group who threatened her while the complainant started crying and shaking uncontrollably.
Thabethe pulled her into the room and told her she was making him look stupid in front of his friends. He pulled her dress up and raped her violently.
Her cousin eventually came into the room and was told what happened.
On Monday, after seeing the complainant speaking to her maths teacher Ms Goqo, Thabethe called Goqo and told her not to believe anything the girl said as she was a liar.
The complainant then reported the matter to her class teacher, Mrs DN Ncube, and the matter was taken to the principal, Mr Mtungwa.
The complainant also laid a criminal charge against Thabethe and underwent pregnancy, HIV and STI testing. She attempted suicide and her doctor diagnosed her as suffering from anxiety and depression and prescribed medication.
Her cousin confirmed the June 16 incident and identified Thabethe as the man who had forcibly pulled the complainant into a room with him. She said the complainant told her she had been raped by Thabethe. She had encouraged the complainant to tell her mother and a teacher.
Goqo testified that she had noticed that the complainant was not her normal self and had repeatedly asked her what was wrong. Eventually the girl told her that a teacher had had sex with her against her will, and said it was Thabethe.
Thabethe testified that he had seen the complainant with friends at the talent show and she appeared intoxicated. He said she was part of a group he had reminded to collect their draft project.
He saw her again at his friend’s house later that day but did not pay any attention to her. He had no idea why she would accuse him of rape and believed she had been drunk and confused him with someone else.
The second time he saw her outside school was on June 16 with her cousin. He said both girls were intoxicated, he did not buy alcohol for any pupils, nor did he use cocaine.
He denied having a phone chat with Goqo about the complainant and was confused as to why he was accused of rape. He did not call any witnesses to back his story.
Pillay noted that Thabethe could have called his friend Chiliza, who had been with him in the build-up to both sexual assaults, but failed to have him refute the complainant's version. He also failed to call his friend Madlala, the friend at whose house the first assault had happened.
“[Thabethe’s] failure to call these material witnesses must result in my drawing the adverse inference that the witnesses could or would not refute the complainant’s version,” said Pillay.
The complainant and her cousin were found to have been frank and honest witnesses. Thabethe was found to have used tactics that were “opportunistic and predatory”.
The ELRC found Thabethe guilty of raping the girl twice when she was 16, upheld his dismissal and declared him unfit to work with children.
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