Accounting teacher fired for ‘forcefully grabbing’ grade 9 pupil and kissing her

The pupil cut her wrists and became withdrawn, the victim’s father testified

30 September 2023 – 16:22

An accounting teacher has been fired for forcefully kissing a grade 9 pupil. Stock photo.
Image: 123RF/Andriy Popov

A Gauteng accounting teacher has been fired for ‘forcefully grabbing’ and kissing a grade 9 pupil.

The disgraced teacher forced the pupil to give him her phone number as “punishment”. He then inundated her with calls and offers to take her out to a “concert”. And he “grabbed her into the computer room and he kissed her”.

The teacher called the victim afterwards and complimented her for being a “great kisser”.

The teacher lost his fight to keep this job this month after the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) found him guilty of sexual harassment. ELRC arbitrator Themba Manganyi found the teacher unsuitable to work with children and recommended his dismissal. Manganyi ruled that the teacher had breached the code of professional ethics of the SA Council of Educators Act.

Sowetan’s sister publication, TimesLIVE has decided not to name the teacher or the school to protect the girl’s identity.

The department of education called five witnesses to bolster its case against the teacher, including the victim. The victim testified that the teacher taught her accounting in grades 8 and 9. She said during the second term of 2022, she went to recharge her cellphone in his classroom.

“When she went to fetch her phone, [the teacher] told her that she must give him her phone numbers as a punishment and she gave it to him,” the ruling reads.

“She stated that [the teacher] used to call her almost every day. In one instance, [the teacher] wanted to take her out to a concert, but she refused and told him that her parents were very strict.”

The pupil testified that during the third term of 2022, she went to collect a book from the library and bumped into the teacher.

“[The teacher] told her that she must wait for him outside. When he came out of the library, he grabbed her into the computer room and he kissed her,” the ruling reads.

After the incident, she went to class and told her friend.

“[The teacher] called her after school and told her that she was a great kisser.”

The pupil only reported the incident after another pupil told her she had had a similar encounter with the teacher. Another teacher urged them to report the accounting teacher to “the office”. The news “spread around the school”, and one of the pupils and her friends tried to attack the teacher.

The victim “stated that she was shocked and scared when [the teacher] grabbed and kissed her because she knew that it was wrong for an educator to do what he did to her. She stated that she did not report the matter earlier because she was scared that no one would believe her. She testified that she also told her parents and that her parents opened a case at the police station.”

The pupil’s father also took the stand and testified that his wife had noticed that their daughter “was self-harming by cutting her wrists” and was “withdrawn”. The father testified the pupil had confided in her mother about the incident.

“He stated that he felt disappointed about the incident as he had thought that educators were there to protect their children and not to harm them. He testified that they opened a police case against [the teacher],” the ruling reads.

The father said their daughter “told them about the incident in March 2023 because she was scared of him and he thought that her daughter was overburdened about the situation. He asserted that her daughter did not make up the story and that her daughter never lied.”

Other witnesses corroborated the pupil’s version. The teacher tried to have the charge against him thrown out on a technicality. The teacher, through his Sadtu representative, argued that the dates of the alleged incident were different on a letter he received from the department and on the notice of the disciplinary hearing. He said because of the discrepancy, he could not “prepare for his defence adequately”.

But Manganyi ruled that the teacher would not be prejudiced by the discrepancy. Manganyi said he had considered that allegation was made by a “minor” and that her decision to report was prompted by another incident that happened around March this year.

The teacher dismissed the allegation against him as untrue. He said he had never been involved with a pupil in the five years that he has been teaching.

“He stated that what he knew was that learners did not like him because of the discipline that he instils,” the ruling reads.

“He submitted that learners have promised him that they would land him in trouble. He stated that there was an educator that was dismissed on allegation of racism that came up with learners who were in grade 8 and those were the same learners who are currently in grade 9.”

The teacher testified that he taught the victim and that she “was a quiet and well-behaved child when she is in class”.

“However, she was different when she was out of class. He submitted that [the victim] changed when she started dating at school. She and her boyfriend would talk in class while he was teaching.

“He then decided to separate their sitting arrangement and [victim’s] boyfriend asked him why did he separate them, but he did not take it serious. He stated that he did not know why [the victim] would accuse him of this allegation, but he knew that [the victim] was kissing boys at school. He stated that he had [the victim’s] father’s cellphone number and he promised her that he would call her father about her relationship, but he never did call her father.”

The teacher said it was a “blatant lie that he grabbed and kissed [the victim] in the computer room”.

“He could not do such a thing as he was a parent to a three-year-old girl. He stated that there are CCTV cameras all over the school,” the ruling reads.

“He stated that there could be a very little possibility that there could be no one at the computer room because the mathematics educators use the computer room and other educators use the library during breaks. He stated that he requested for the video footage from the school, but it was not forthcoming.

“He averred that if someone would come and say that he was lying, that person would not know him. He studied to become an educator because he wanted to help the children.”

But Manganyi found the teacher guilty.

“Subsequently, I find that the employer succeeded in discharging its burden of proof, on a balance of probabilities, that [the teacher] forcefully grabbed and kissed [the victim] in the computer room,” Manganyi ruled.

“In view of my guilty finding, I find that dismissal would be appropriate under the circumstances. This is so because educators are entrusted with the care of children and adolescents. Therefore, they must act with the utmost good faith in their conduct towards learners as society must be able to trust educators unconditionally with children. If educators breach this trust, dismissal is generally the most appropriate sanction.”

TimesLIVE

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