Johannesburg - The African National Congress Women’s League (ANCWL) has slammed the KwaZulu-Natal teacher who allegedly had sex with at least six pupils.
The teacher from a school in Nquthu in northern KZN, was suspended on Thursday for allegedly having sex with the underage pupils.
His alleged acts came to light after a video emerged of him allegedly having sex with a pupil at a cottage behind the classrooms on the school’s premises.
KwaZulu-Natal education spokesman Kwazi Mthethwa confirmed to the African News Agency (ANA) that the suspended teacher was being accused of abusing as many as six female pupils, believed to be aged 14 and 15, and recording the abuse.
Members of the student body said there had been rumours for a while that the teacher was sleeping with pupils. “The anger became real when the video surfaced. On Wednesday afternoon the students went to his cottage. His fiancée was there and they chased her away,” one said. Some of the teacher’s belongings were burnt.
The pupil, who cannot be named to protect him from being victimised, said the anger grew on Thursday morning after the video had gone viral overnight.
“When I got to school this morning the students were standing outside the gate and I struggled to control them.”
He said this was not the first time allegations of a teacher and pupil having sex were made. “There are many others.”
In a statement on Friday, ANCWL secretary-general Meokgo Matuba said they were shocked by the news.
“The alleged paedophile has been reportedly luring girl learners into his cottage since 2012 to have sexual intercourse with them.”
Matuba said schools were centres of development for positive citizenry, self-improvement, and occupational preparation, and anyone who turned them into centres for sexual exploitation of learners needed to be barred for life from school yards.
“The ANCWL calls on all the learners, stakeholders of the school and the community at large to support the learners who have been victims and must work closely with law enforcement agencies to ensure that the offender faces the full might of the law,” Matuba said.
KZN provincial education MEC, Mthandeni Dlungwana, visited the school on Thursday and opened a case of statutory rape against the teacher.
African News Agency and The Mercury