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Extraordinary evidence of foot dragging by provincial departments has emerged in cases of sexual abuse by teachers, writes Mungo Soggot
Johannes de Beer was a headmaster in disgrace three years ago when he was suspended for sexually molesting his pupils. Seven months ago he was convicted by the courts for his crimes.
Today he is still being paid by the Gauteng Department of Education – which has given him his full R117 000-a-year salary, including bonuses, for what in effect has been a bumper holiday.
Three years ago in Mpumalanga five teachers were suspended for forcing children to engage in sexual activity in the classroom. They were also suspended after the incident, and convicted in August. They, too, are still on a bumper full-pay holiday for their crimes.
These are just two cases of what many would see as a perversion of justice in South Africa’s schools which have confronted a shocked Kader Asmal since he became minister of education – cases in which he has little power to interfere because of the autonomy accorded provincial education government in the legislation he has inherited.
De Beer left Edith Hind School in Jeppestown, Johannesburg, in July 1997 after one of the prefects blew the whistle on his predilection for fondling schoolboys.
Senior staff warned teachers that they would be axed if they discussed the headmaster’s suspension with the press. An acting headmaster, Leon Erasmus, was appointed, and remains in that position. De Beer was convicted in April in the Randburg Regional Court on two of the five counts against him, receiving a fine and a suspended sentence.
His disciplinary inquiry has been postponed three times, and the Gauteng education department said this week the final hearing would take place on November 16.
Asmal said this week that it was an “intolerable waste of public money” that a teacher convicted of sexual harassment should remain on full pay for so long. He said as far as he was concerned a misconduct trial within the department should be finalised within three months after the incident is reported.
The minister explained that if a teacher was found guilty of an offence in a court of law it was within the powers of the provincial administrations to review their conditions of suspension and block their pay.
Asmal’s representative, Bheki Khumalo, added that the Employment of Educators Act vested in provincial departments the authority to review the conditions of a suspension at any time – and block a teacher’s salary. All of which meantthat the law allowed provincial departments to be far sterner than they were with errant teachers, said Khumalo.
The Gauteng department had a different version. Confirming the details of the case, it said: “In terms of the Labour Relations Act and the Employment of Educators Act all persons are innocent until given a chance to represent themselves. We therefore could not suspend him [De Beer] without salary as we would have already judged him, even before he was given a fair hearing. The department then requested for the court transcripts which were given to us in May 1999. He was then charged with misconduct on May 19 1999, for having been convicted by a court of law.”
Meanwhile the five Mpumalanga teachers suspended three years ago for forcing children to engage in sexual activity in the classroom secured a second postponement of their disciplinary hearing this week. The five teachers from Sihlangene Primary School, at Waterval village near Groblersdal, were suspended in 1996. They forced 16 pupils, aged between eight and 12, to perform sexual acts in front of their classmates during a story-telling class.
In August, the Mdutjane Regional Court convicted them on 16 counts of soliciting children to perform indecent or immoral acts, and of assault. The teachers were each given five-year suspended sentences and a R5 000 fine. The director of public prosecutions is appealing the sentence on the grounds it was too lenient.
In this case, Khumalo said, Asmal had instructed the provincial department a month ago to swiftly initiate a disciplinary hearing for the five teachers and then summarily dismiss them. Khumalo said Asmal would be “furious” if the matter was not settled immediately.
Nevertheless, on Wednesday, the Mpmumalanga Department of Education said the teachers had secured a postponement for their hearing until November 17, after submitting an application to lead evidence in mitigation. Their hearing was previously postponed on October 5 until this week.
Asmal has inherited legislation that makes it very difficult to effect even the most obvious changes to the education system if they impact on teachers’ basic employment conditions.
The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union contacted the Mail & Guardian to say it would oppose any changes to the current legislation governing teachers’ employment merely because of a few cases such as these.