DA calls for action after 20 educators abandon learners to support alleged sex pest principal in court
24 August 2023
The DA condemns the actions of more than 20 educators at Pietermaritzburg-based Woodlands Secondary School, who abandoned learners in order to attend a court case involving the embattled principal, who we are advised is currently out on bail following allegations of sexual assault.
The incident took place on Tuesday. Chaos broke out as a result of the learners being left unattended with two learners injured. One learner was cut on the forehead with a knife and another was hit on the head with a belt buckle after a fight allegedly broke out between several learners.
Yesterday, I met with School Governing Body (SGB) members and established that there are deep-seated and persistent governance related issues at this school.
These have even led to them being locked out of the school and not allowed to perform their fiduciary and oversight functions. Further accusations of racism and sexual assault of staff members make the school sound like a war-zone.
It is disgraceful that the SGB's pleas have resulted in KZN Department of Education (DoE) officials trying to disband the duly elected body rather than dealing with the real problems at the school.
It is even worse that all SGB correspondence regarding governance issues have fallen on deaf ears - from the offices of MEC Mbali Frazer and her HOD, down to school circuit management.
That more than over 20 teachers can simply walk off the school premises leaving chaos behind them, is unacceptable, offensive and an act of pure impunity.
The DA has written (view here) to MEC Frazer to request that she deploy her rapid response team to this warring school to establish what is going on. Whether she cares enough to do the right thing - and hold what appears to be a confrontational senior management team to account – remains to be seen.
The DA has long proposed that a Schools Evaluations Authority be established in KZN to ensure less union interference and greater levels of accountability within our schools. This has already been done in the DA-led Western Cape and has ensured better governance, significantly less disruptions of learning and teaching and improved outcomes in the delivery of quality education.
This should be the aim of any MEC for Education. Regrettably, in KZN, the MEC - as part of the Taliban-run ANC government - appears to choose to bury her head in the sand rather than act decisively.
The 2024 ballot box cannot come soon enough for KZN’s learners who will be better off without an ANC government that continues to show its incompetence when it comes to governance and accountability.
Issued by Imran Keeka, DA KZN Spokesperson on Education, 24 August 2023
