Parents ‘cover up’ for school predators
“He is our saviour! He stocks our fridge with meat once a month,” says a KwaZuluNatal woman about a local teacher who got her 15-year-old daughter pregnant.
The woman registered her daughter’s child as her own — and keeps the truth about the pregnancy secret. The teacher continues to have a relationship with the girl.
The teacher also paid the family one-off “damages” of R2,500. “I will never report him, he is our saviour,” said the 44-year-old grandmother, who lives on the outskirts of Pietermaritzburg.
The teacher would have been found guilty of statutory rape for having a sexual relationship with an underage pupil, and could also have lost his job as it is a dismissible offence — if the case had been reported.
Amendments to the Employment of Educators Act in April also state that an educator found guilty of sexual misconduct involving a learner is “indefinitely prevented” from reemployment.
But many poverty-stricken parents are not opening cases against teachers who have sex with their children and also do not report them to the education authorities because they are bribed with cash and groceries.
“Parents are selling the souls of their children, and this is something that is of great concern to us,” said South African Council for Educators (Sace) CEO Ella Mokgalane.
She said that teachers bribe parents with cash payments of between R1,000 and R15,000 to not proceed with misconduct cases. Sometimes the teachers tell the parents they will marry their daughters.
The Pietermaritzburg grandmother, who cannot be named to protect the identify of her daughter, said that if the teacher who fathered her grandchild was arrested, “my grandson will starve and our lives will be negatively affected. So no, I will never report
this. If he loses his job, we also lose this better life that we have at the moment.”
She said the teacher had so far paid R2,500 as inhlawulo, or damages, for impregnating her daughter and had promised to pay the balance later, but had not done so.
“But this doesn’t matter. This man is very responsible. He knows that his child eats. Without fail, every month when he gets paid on the 15th he brings us groceries. As I’m talking to you now, my fridge is full of meat. My grocery cabinet is also full.”
She said her daughter’s pregnancy was a blessing in disguise because their lives had changed for the better.
“I used to do odd jobs in people’s homes so that I can put food on the table. I don’t do that at all since this man came to my home and introduced himself. He takes care of our every need. When I’m sick, he also gets me medication.”
She said the teacher also gives them R1,000 a month.
Her daughter is repeating grade 11 after dropping out of school last year when she got pregnant.
The woman said her daughter and the teacher are still in a relationship and she spends weekends with him.
Shaheda Omar, clinical director at the Teddy Bear Clinic for Abused Children, said they had challenges with families who were not willing to take cases of their children being impregnated further.
“Because families are in dire need and there is insufficient household income they would rather take the money and keep quiet. That’s condoning statutory rape and it cannot be justified, regardless of the situation.”
Nokuzola Mndende, the author of cultural and spiritual works, a former lecturer in comparative religions and now president of the Icamagu Institute, said the money paid by teachers was nothing but a bribe.
“They secretly give some money to the mothers of the girls to silence them because they know they are poor. It’s an insult. These teachers are often married. In Xhosa culture, the boy and girl must be of a similar age for damages to be paid. You are paying for breaking the virginity of this girl.”
Education spokesperson Elijah Mhlanga did not respond to detailed questions.
However, Granville Whittle, a deputy director-general in the department of basic education, told parliament this month that according to birth registrations at home affairs there was a “big category” of women aged 55 to 70 who indicated they had given birth.
“Our reading of that is that those are probably women who know their children have been raped. They probably know the men who have done so, and so they choose to record these births as their own instead of reporting these matters to the police.”
Basic education minister Angie Motshekga told parliament that some pupils are “restrained by their parents” from participating in misconduct cases linked to educators.
A total of 167 cases of sexual misconduct involving teachers, including 49 for sexual assault, 30 for having sexual relationships with pupils and 14 for rape, were reported to Sace from April 2020 to July 2021.
Department of health figures revealed that 132,612 girls aged 15 to 19 fell pregnant in 2020 and a further 35,209 between January and March this year.
Some 3,774 girls aged between 10 and 14 fell pregnant last year and 1,053 in the first three months of this year.
Lifeline Pietermaritzburg, which runs a programme on sexual and reproductive health and rights at 20 schools, said it was aware of 42 schoolgirls at 12 schools in the uMgungundhlovu district municipality who were involved in sexual relationships with teachers. Director Sinikiwe Biyela confirmed that eight of the girls had given birth, and seven others were pregnant.
“When we encourage parents to open a case of statutory rape they refuse. They don’t see why this is wrong. The girl will also refuse to give a statement,” Biyela said.
Some female teachers had reported their male counterparts for having sexual relationships with pupils, she said. “But the moment we ask them to give it in writing they refuse, saying they don’t want the teacher to lose his job. All they want is for the social worker to talk to the teacher to ask him to stop what he’s doing.”
She said teachers targeted girls who were orphans and those from struggling families. “It’s also a status thing. If a learner is in a relationship with a teacher, the parents are excited that their child is dating a teacher. If the child falls pregnant, the teacher will come and pay damages and the parents are happy because the teacher is being responsible.
“The mother will not open a case. She will say, ‘This teacher has been so good to us, he buys us groceries ... He brings nappies, milk and clothes. How can we be so ungrateful?’ ”
Sace’s Mokgalane said sometimes watertight cases against teachers involved in sexual misconduct fell apart due to the parents being unco-operative at the last minute.
“The children are the key witnesses and if they don’t come forth there’s nothing you can do.”