School an ‘abomination’ – Parktown Boys’ moms

ENRAGED mothers of sexually and physically violated learners from Parktown Boys’ High School have called the institution “an abomination” following sordid revelations of widespread and unpunished child abuse.

The group of women include mothers whose boys suffered shocking sexual and physical abuse at the hands of convicted sex pest Collan Rex – a former water polo coach and hostel master at the Joburg school.

Rex was convicted last week on 156 counts of sexual and physical abuse on over a dozen schoolboys aged between 13 and 16 from 2015 to 2016.

The 22-year-old paedophile, who is a former Parktown learner, was found to have committed egregious acts, which include grabbing, squeezing and rubbing his penis against those of boys’ in a lewd act known as dry humping – while also choking boys to the point of fainting.

In a heartfelt plea to education authorities, the mothers said they sent their children to prestigious schools such as Parktown for them to be moulded into “well-rounded gentlemen” – but clearly this was not the case.

“In fact, what is actually taking place is nothing short of an abomination.

“What has been discovered is that the boys are coded into silence from day one, broken into submission, groomed by a paedophilic culture which also disrupts their normal sexual development.

“They are further forced into becoming predators who brutally imprint this culture on the new intakes of Grade 8,” the mothers said.

They alleged that they have approached education authorities for intervention, but that their pleas had “fallen on deaf ears”.

Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi said last week that the department had instituted strong disciplinary action on staff under its purview, including dismissing teachers, but that they were being met with resistance by the school governing body (SGB).

“It is difficult to be between a hard place and a rock because, sometimes when we interfere, people say: ‘The MEC is interfering with the rights of the SGB.’

“We have taken action. We just have to go back and check who has dropped the ball and attend to that issue immediately,” Lesufi said.

A provisional date of October 31 for the sentencing procedures to conclude has been set.