KZN educators and staff guilty of serious misconduct must not receive a mere slap on the wrist
24 March 2021
The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes an announcement by KwaZulu-Natal’s (KZN) Department of Education (DoE) that it has recently finalized 12 current appeals processes relating to disciplinary cases involving educators and other staff in the province.
According to the Department, findings of guilt were upheld in 11 of the 12 instances. The misdemeanours have been described as serious and include sexual abuse or harassment of learners or co-workers, corporal punishment/assault of learners and assault/attempted assault of co-workers and other education stakeholders.
The DA is pleased that these cases have reached conclusion. KZN’s DoE probably has the second largest staff component in the entire country, after the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and so it is not uncommon for many instances to arise that require disciplinary action.
There are, however, far too many matters that are allowed to drag on endlessly. In some instances, the perpetrators of serious offences continue to work in the same environment as the victims. This understandably causes significant anxiety and emotional turmoil.
The reality though is that internal processes without pressing criminal charges, where applicable, amount to a mere slap on the wrist.
This while the Department has also shown absolutely no indication of having heeded the DA’s calls to ensure that staff are vetted against the sexual offenders’ register. Today we repeat this call in the interests of learners in particular and to mitigate against possible future risk.
The DA will continue to monitor the environment within our schools and have recently submitted parliamentary questions to KZN Education MEC, KwaziMshengu, calling for the number of educators currently suspended in the province and the reasons for this. We expect the MEC to respond to these questions without delay and to provide absolute clarity in the interests of all stakeholders.
Issued byImran Keeka,DA KZN Spokesperson on Education, 24 March 2021
