Statement by Zandile Phiri, Acting Secretary General of the United Democratic Movement
In October 2023, the Department of Basic Education announced that it had dismissed 36 teachers for offences including rape, sexual abuse, and impregnating learners across the country. This followed investigations and disciplinary action conducted by the South African Council for Educators (SACE).
SACE expressed deep concern about the alarming rise in misconduct cases against educators. In the 2021/2022 period, the council removed a total of 19 educators from the teaching roll, but this number nearly doubled in the 2022/2023 period, with 36 teachers being dismissed for serious violations. This increase highlights a growing problem within the education system and raises questions about the protection of vulnerable learners.
The United Democratic Movement (UDM) has noted that the Thembisa magistrate’s court recently sentenced a 50-year-old creative arts teacher, Bethuel Lesetja Makgetha, who repeatedly raped the 13-year-old East Rand pupil multiple times in October 2019, manipulating her into staying after school and threatening academic harm if she spoke out.
In the Eastern Cape a teacher was recently dismissed with immediate effect after she was found guilty of sexual misconduct involving a 13-year-old boy. According to evidence before the Education Labour Relations Council, the teacher at Pharamakhulo Senior Primary School in Mahlabatheng, Tlokoeng (formerly Mount Fletcher), touched the boy’s hands and asked him to kiss her.
A teacher at Westerkim Primary School in Upington in the Northern Cape has in turn been fired in late September 2024 for sexually assaulting a 13-year-old girl, causing her to regularly be absent and her performance to drop, has also been declared undesirable to work with children.
Given these three recent examples, remains pervasive across the country and does not seem to be improving since the period of 2022/2023.
The UDM reiterates its firm stance that schools must be safe spaces where discipline, order, neatness, and productivity are upheld. It is essential that learners feel secure in their educational environment. The UDM strongly believes that crime, particularly sexual harassment and abuse within schools, must be met with zero tolerance. Offenders have no place in institutions of learning and must be removed immediately. Furthermore, they should face the full might of the law, ensuring that justice is served and that such heinous acts are not allowed to fester in our schools.
Ww furthermore strongly condemn the alarming trend in South Africa’s justice system, which appears to favour perpetrators of crime over innocent victims. Far too often, suspected criminals are released on minimal bail, allowing them the opportunity to reoffend, intimidate their victims, and commit further crimes while awaiting trial. This revolving door of justice is unacceptable and must stop!
The UDM calls for stricter bail conditions, especially for serious offenses like sexual abuse and violent crime, to ensure that victims are protected, and justice is truly served. The justice system must prioritise the safety of the innocent, ensuring that those who commit crimes face the full consequences of their actions without undue leniency.
