Teacher suspended after claims of sexual abuse

FURIOUS parents rushed to Valhalla Primary School yesterday morning to prevent a teacher accused of sexually assaulting 23 pupils in Grades 5, 6 and 7 from entering the premises.

The angry parents arrived at the school in Centurion, saying they had dropped everything so they could stop the 55-year-old teacher from entering the school propery.

They were furious that they had only learnt about the allegations on social media the previous evening.

However, the Gauteng Education Department had already asked the man not to report for work, due to the seriousness of the allegations. Department spokesperson Steve Mabona, anti-crime activist Yusuf Abramjee and ward councillor Ina Strijdom also rushed to the school to engage with and calm the parents.

Mabona said the teacher had allegedly been touching pupils inappropriately, and pupils reported the matter following a safety awareness lesson at the school by metro police officers on January 23.

Mabona assured anxious parents that the department had the situation under control, and said they had brought in experts to help the pupils and provide counselling.

He assured parents that a letter of removal from the school was being drafted. He said the teacher would report to the department’s district office for the duration of the investigation.

“The department has a zero tolerance approach to allegations of sexual misconduct, and where the allegations are proven true, the department will not hesitate to take decisive action against the perpetrators.

“There is a case that was opened at the Wierdabrug police station, and the information at our disposal is that the police will use the case docket to interact with the principal and try to access the pupils, with the consent of their parents, of course.

“The police are aware that this is a very serious case. Parents are con- cerned about the wellbeing of their children and we have assured them that our psycho-social unit is there already.

“What we are going to need is the consent from parents,” he said.

The department will also investigate the case of sexual assault and update a newly established committee of parents. This should avoid parents attempting to shut the school down because they were not being updated on developments.

“There is no need for parents to come and shut the school down. The school must be left to be operational as the curriculum is very important and recovery is difficult.

“We encourage parents not to dis- rupt the school, we’ll update them on the latest developments.”

A parent who asked not to be named said: “I am hurt and disappointed by this because I only found out on Twitter yesterday (Tuesday).

“I couldn’t even sleep last night, I just wanted to get here and find out what is happening because I have two girls going to this school.”

#NotInMyName secretary-general Themba Masango visited the school with a squad of community activists, who condemned the alleged crime and called for justice to be done.

“Schools are a places where we send our children to be safe. We cannot live in fear of not knowing what will happen to our children in schools.”