Department wants sex teacher tested

THE government has ordered “efforts be made to ensure” that the Zululand teacher facing charges of rape be tested for HIV and that his alleged schoolgirl victims be given antiretroviral treatment.

The teacher was suspended from Ekucabangeni High School in Nquthu after a video of him having sex allegedly with an underage schoolgirl surfaced.

He cannot be named because he has yet to plead to two counts of rape, two counts of sexual grooming and one of sexual assault. He is set to apply for bail in the Nquthu Magistrate’s Court next week.

Education MEC Mthandeni Dlungwana had also set up a task team to investigate the allegations.

The office of the Premier yesterday said the possibility of the pupils being infected with HIV had “weighed heavily on the shoulders” of the KwaZulu- Natal Executive Council.

A directive was issued for the departments of health and education to ensure pupils received treatment as a precaution and that efforts be made to test the teacher.

Six pupils, aged 14 and 15, had come forward claiming they had been sexually assaulted by the teacher.

The council ordered the education department to: “Intensify a campaign aimed at the restoration of moral fibre for teachers to see learners as their children and desist from unsavoury relations with them.”

However, the teacher cannot be compelled to take an HIV test. Ayanda Ngubo, of legal firm Webber Wentzel said this would be a serious invasion of his right to privacy.

She said testing and ARVs could only be offered, also post-prophylaxis were only affected if given within a certain period.