Cape Town - Activists have slammed the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) for not implementing stronger disciplinary measures against teaching staff at Scottsdene High School who were allegedly involved in a corruption scandal.
This, two years after alleged employment irregularities surrounding the principal’s post and the promotion of a departmental head at the school were taken to the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) for arbitration.
Community activist Derrick van Rooyen said: “We have been trying since last year, even before the arbitration award came out, to understand why the department failed to remove the principal with immediate effect when they found that he had been hired unfairly.
“Not only then, but more so when the arbitration award exposed that he got that position through corruption. The department’s reluctance to remove him from the teaching staff sends the wrong message. What is to become of our schools when big issues such as these are not treated urgently.
“Since we began questioning why this issue is being dragged and the department is covering it up, we have been intimidated and threatened. However, we will not sit back and watch our schools become the playground for unscrupulous people.
“We want him gone and for concerns about corruption at our local schools to be taken seriously. Our learners bear the brunt of such unfairness, and it’s unjust that the department overlooks that.”
The school’s governing body chairperson Plinton Jacobs said the allegations against the principal were false and defamatory.
“The SGB will be taking legal action against these false allegations. There has never been any misconduct charge against the principal. A grievance was lodged against the principal’s post in 2020 and it was settled and a new process was started.
“This grievance was against the old governing body that did the process, and not against the principal. The election of the new governing body was done in my presence and the process was legally handled. The educator and his friend who are making these allegations must be very careful because they are defamatory in nature. The governing body will not hesitate to seek legal assistance and then insist on prosecution,” Jacobs said.
However, the department maintained the arbitration award was implemented after allegations of irregularities with the hiring process of the principal and another teacher’s promotion were brought forward.
WCED spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said: “The commissioner found procedural and substantive irregularities in the process, and also stated that considering all the facts and circumstances, the applicant had demonstrated on a balance of probabilities that the SGB had committed an unfair labour practice relating to promotion as intended in section 186(2) of the Labour Relations Act.
“The principal post was again advertised last year, and the process is near finalisation.”