Sex claim principal suspended

The Gauteng education department has placed a headmaster on precautionary suspension after an allegation that he touched a teacher on her private parts in the presence of other teachers after a meeting.

The department told Collen Sedoaba, principal of Sijabulile Secondary School in Ekurhuleni, of his suspension on Thursday.

This follows a complaint of sexual harassment and victimisation lodged against him by a teacher at the district office last week.

Sedoaba has denied the allegations, saying: “We will joke and do all sorts of things and I don’t recall a day where I touched her private parts. I didn’t even see her that way.”

The teacher registered the same complaintwith the South African Council for Educators (Sace) in January.

Following her complaint, department officials conducted a workshop on sexual harassment at the school on Monday.

A day later an official from Sace interviewed six teachers at the school, including the victim and Sedoaba, about the incident that allegedly took place in March 2018.

The teacher said she only lodged a formal complaint early this year because she feared victimisation.

In an e-mail to Sace dated January 27 this year, she said she was in a state of shock when the principal tried grabbing her again.

“That is when I ducked and one of the male teachers stepped in and blocked him from touching me the second time.”

A teacher who was present during the alleged incident in March 2018 confirmed he had done this.

A spokesperson for Sace said its ethics committee would decide whether or not to charge Sedoaba.

Gauteng education department spokesperson Steve Mabona confirmed the suspension, saying: “The necessary disciplinary process will be undertaken accordingly.”