Principal in sex charge

Published Feb 18, 2016

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An increase in cases of sexual violence against women in the workplace has alarmed the Commission for Gender Equality.

“This needs to be stopped,” the commission’s Javu Baloyi told POST this week.

Baloyi was commenting on the arrest of a Durban primary school principal who was charged for sexual assault after a 32-year-old teacher claimed he fondled her breast, and caressed her back and backside.

National Prosecuting Authority spokeswoman Natasha Kara said the man had appeared in the Chatsworth Magistrate’s Court on February 9. He was released on R2 000 bail and has since returned to school.

The teacher, however, has not returned to school.

Speaking to POST, the single mother of two claimed her troubles with the principal began in December, just after her divorce was finalised.

“I moved from New Zealand to South Africa and began working at the school in 2013 as a mathematics teacher. I always maintained a good working relationship with the principal, until December.”

The Pinetown woman claimed that on many occasions during school hours the principal would call her out of her classroom to chat.

“It had nothing to do with school. He would always say that I was looking sexy, and whenever I reprimanded him he would claim he was joking and walk away. This happened a few times and I complained to my HOD (head of department), but I was told that if I took the matter forward he would victimise me.”

She claimed she had tried hard to avoid the principal.

“In January I had a free period and I was alone in one of the classrooms sorting out some admin work when the principal walked in and closed the door behind him.”

She said she got up and walked towards the door while chatting to him about work.

“At one point while chatting to him, we stood side by side. This is when he put his hand on my back and started rubbing it in a sexual manner. I shrugged him off but he came closer.”

The woman claimed he then fondled her breast and rubbed his hand on her backside.

“I pushed him away. I was totally devastated. He looked at me and said we would talk about what happened later in his office.”

She said after the incident he tried to speak to her on numerous occasions but she avoided him.

“I told staff members what had happened and they told me to forget about it because he would blackmail me. Eventually, I could not take it anymore; I told my HOD and parents.”

She said she and the HOD also reported the matter to the school’s governing body.

“During my ordeal I received threats from staff members at the school and this was the last straw. I reported him to the department of education and the police and he was arrested.”

She said she had not returned to school because she was too traumatised by the incident.

“He violated me and now he is trying to paint me in a bad light. I am around his daughter’s age. He should have known better.”

Baloyi said such cases had become prevalent in the workplace.

“In most cases the women are not seen as the victims but are made to believe that they provoked the act. In a workplace situation many are threatened and victimised after these attacks.”

The spokesman for the KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education, Muzi Mahlambi, said the allegations were being probed.

Police spokesman Major Thulani Zwane confirmed that a case of sexual assault was being investigated.

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