Durban - Disturbing footage depicting a primary school pupil recounting a sexual encounter she had apparently been exposed to at home has emerged on social media.
The exact location of the school could not be confirmed, but language used in the 40-second footage suggests it was in a classroom in KwaZulu-Natal. An assessment of the clip suggests that the child is aged between 5 and 7.
In the footage, the woman recording the incident can be heard instructing the pupil standing in front of the camera to repeat what she has said - while the child’s classmates mill around. The woman is believed to be a teacher.
An assessment of the video indicates that the person recording the clip was in the company of an adult male. It is not clear when the incident was recorded.
In the footage a handful of children gather around to listen.
“What did you say they were doing at home?” the woman queries, asking the rest of the pupils to be quiet.
“Mnqobi and Mini were f******,” responds the startled-looking child, her tiny hands clenched at her chest. Oblivious to the child’s traumatised demeanour, the woman retorts: “What were they doing?”
“They were f******,” the child responds nervously. The two adults then burst into laughter before the woman again asks where the child saw the sexual intercourse.
She fires another question: “What about Skhumbuzo?”
“He also f****,” the pupil obliges.
The two again burst into hysterical laughter.
KZN education spokesman Scelo Khuzwayo described the video as “very disturbing”.
“Obviously we will now begin a process of identifying the school so we can intervene appropriately. The footage is unacceptable. A teacher in any school plays the role of a parent to every child,” he said. “We are not expecting her to take footage that ends up compromising the child.”
“This is pathetic,” said another department spokesman, Muzi Mahlambi. “We will investigate the school and get the educator and we will take disciplinary action. She has a lot to answer for this abuse. You can’t have an educator entrenching such a thing in the minds of the children when child molestation is the biggest social ill in our society.”
Childline national executive Dumisile Nala expressed shock and horror, saying the sharing of the footage was illegal.
Childline would investigate, she said.
“I am going to engage with investigators who deal with these matters. They will have to try to trace her and try to stop the video being distributed further.” She said teachers had a responsibility to protect pupils.
“There are protocols that teachers know that they have to follow if pupils make such disclosures. For her to ask the child to repeat what she had said, and worse, inviting an audience, is totally wrong.
“This child is talking about things she has seen that are beyond her age. She has been exposed to things that are inappropriate, be it by language or actual sexual intercourse or abuse. You would expect a teacher to seek support for the child whether through the school counsellor or external social workers. It should be a person who could even contact the local police, who could then advise on the appropriate action.”
She said it was safer to report the matter to police, as alerting the family risked exposing the child to abuse.
Police spokesman Thulani Zwane said the incident was unacceptable.
“We advise the parents of the child to go to the nearest police station to give a statement as to what really happened, so that we will be able to say what charges can be instituted.”
@Sihle_MG
The Mercury