Johannesburg - Three days before the South African Council of Educators (Sace) tabled its report about teacher misconduct in parliament, Precious Matthews* was allegedly sexually assaulted by a teacher who tried to rape her.
On October 11, a teacher called the 18-year-old pupil into his office and masturbated on her gym dress, leaving her traumatised with torn stockings.
This year, 94 cases of rape and sexual abuse against teachers have been reported – up from 82 last year, according to Sace’s annual report. At least 22 of these cases were in Gauteng.
Precious recounted her ordeal to The Star in the presence of her mother.
The Grade 11 pupil from Soweto said she had gone to the teacher’s office to find out about discrepancies with her marks.
“I went to his office to find out why some of my marks were missing. When I got in, he locked the burglar bars behind me. I asked him why he hadn’t put in my life orientation marks, why he was failing me when I handed in the work,” she said.
The male teacher was her class teacher.
“He said: ‘Just look for your name on the schedule and write 78 percent’. He said he’d already calculated it. So I took a pen and wrote it. Then he closed the door and started undressing.”
Precious said she could tell he was drunk. “I was scared and I didn’t know what to do. He said he wanted to have sex with me in the office because he’s wanted me for so long in class and he didn’t want the other kids to know. I told him he’s my teacher and he can’t do that.”
Then the teacher suggested
oral sex.
“I said: ‘No sir, I can’t do that’ and I asked him how could he ask for such things. Then I started crying.”
The teacher then offered her R500 for sex.
“I said I don’t want his money, then he took it up to R2 000. He tried kissing me and touching my hair. I took a picture of him and he didn’t care because he was drunk,” said Precious.
The phone with the picture has been taken by the police as evidence.
“Then he masturbated on top of me and ejaculated on my gym dress. At that point, I didn’t know what to do.”
After the assault, the teacher apologised and said he’d go buy her stockings to replace the ones he’d torn.
“I didn’t want the class to be suspicious, so I agreed. He took the torn stockings.”
The next morning, Precious told her mother what had happened. She and her mother told three female teachers.
“They said they would take care of it, but they didn’t. They didn’t even tell the principal,” she added.
Precious and her mother alerted the principal themselves and he contacted the Gauteng Department of Education.
According to both Precious and the department’s spokeswoman, Phumla Sekhonyane, the accused teacher had been teaching at the school only since the beginning of the year. It was his first teaching job.
Sekhonyane said the teacher, who has since been suspended, faced dismissal in terms of the Employment of Educators Act.
The teacher was arrested on October 11 after arriving at the school to teach, though he was on suspension.
Precious said she knew the teacher had fondled other girls.
“The department has been providing counselling to the learner and her family,” said Sekhonyane.
The teacher appeared in court on October 13.
Help for victims of sexual abuse
The pupil should report the alleged abuse to the principal of the school, who will then report it to the labour relations and dispute management unit at the district office. The labour relations officials will then go to the school to investigate and get the substance of the matter, if any. Then they will ask for the teacher to be suspended until the hearing is over.
* Not her real name
The Star
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