Johannesburg - "Your body is so sexy;
I wish you could be my girlfriend.”
This is one of the salacious comments allegedly made by a 57-year-old school patroller
to an 11-year-old schoolgirl from
AB Xuma Primary School in Soweto, where the number of little girls allegedly molested by the guard has since shot up to 87.
The patroller’s lewd remarks were revealed by the 11-year-old’s grandmother, who first blew the whistle last month about the remarks the patroller had allegedly made.
The grandmother, who cannot be named to protect her granddaughter’s identity, said her granddaughter first told her about the patroller’s “eerie remarks” in February, adding she didn’t take her grandchild’s stories as seriously as she should have.
But things came to a head after a Heritage Day school excursion last month, when the patroller allegedly made similar remarks to a Grade 5 learner.
Read:
Sexually assaulted kids at primary school rises to 87
“They (learners) went to the trip and came back to the school, where the patroller told my granddaughter that the way she was dirty, it’s as if she had just had sex.
“He did this while brushing my child on her bum as if to clean her,” the emotional grandmother said.
“That’s when I was able to link the February incident with this disgusting act by the guard, and approached the school with this information,” she added.
Asked how her granddaughter was coping, the grandmother said her grandchild was not doing well, even though she was still attending school.
“She received counselling at the school, but we will continue assessing her to check her progress.”
The 11-year-old’s mother also expressed concern about her daughter’s emotional state.
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“She (the learner) became emotional when she saw her school on the news.
“We had to reassure her that she did the right thing by speaking out because she helped other learners in the process,” the mother, who also has twin girls at the school, said.
The grandmother was speaking on the sidelines of Sunday’s parents’ meeting at the school, where Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi and the school governing body (SGB) addressed parents and local residents on measures taken since the allegations first emerged last week.
The SGB has laid the blame squarely at the feet of the principal - identified by parents as “Ms Mthimkhulu” - claiming the headmistress tried to shelter the patroller and hid critical information from the governing body.
The SGB’s charge was led by Refiloe Rephodile, who asserted that Mthimkhulu was “nonchalant” when she told governing body members that a parent had complained about her child being sexually assaulted.
“To demonstrate that (Mthimkhulu) knew about this matter, she took out (an initial) list of 54 names. She had kept it to herself. She said to us: ‘Here are the learners who complained,’” charged Rephodile, saying the principal then refused to allow them to see the list.
Lesufi suspended the principal and her management staff last week.
He also announced on Sunday that new staff would be joining the school today so that learning would not be affected.
#ABXuma: Parents, community sing ahead of meeting with Gauteng Education MEC @Lesufi in Soweto. @ReporterStar @IOL. pic.twitter.com/gJ6ycwskGY
— Khaya Sibulele Koko (@khayakoko88) October 15, 2017
#ABXumaPrimary: Parents, community chant "Let Her Speak"; calling for Gogo who first reported 'molestation' to speak. @ReporterStar, @IOL. pic.twitter.com/dtUwGX1vHg
— Khaya Sibulele Koko (@khayakoko88) October 15, 2017
#ABXumaPrimary: Gogo who first reported 'violation' gives a harrowing timeline of events. Strong African Woman! @ReporterStar; @IOL. pic.twitter.com/uhbEf7jew7
— Khaya Sibulele Koko (@khayakoko88) October 15, 2017
#ABXumaPrimary: MEC @Lesufi addresses parents, community. @ReporterStar @IOL. pic.twitter.com/plzBiSamJy
— Khaya Sibulele Koko (@khayakoko88) October 15, 2017
“What is very important is that we can’t allow a high number of incidents like this to happen at the school and not act. I don’t think that would’ve been appropriate or correct. We’re not saying the principal is guilty; there is going to be a process that the principal must go through, and we’ll attend to that matter,” the MEC stressed.
Another parent, whose six-year-old girl was also allegedly violated, said she was happy with the measures the MEC announced on Sunday, including the overhaul of the school’s security system by installing cameras so that learners would be monitored at all times.
The parent, whose child is in Grade R and was allegedly vaginally penetrated by the guard with his fingers, said her daughter was trying to cope with her ordeal.
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Meanwhile, Lesufi said another case of a 17-year-old schoolgirl being “raped” by a patroller had emerged at Mahube Valley Secondary School in Pretoria, where the MEC was expected to visit on Monday.
The 17-year-old was allegedly raped during her matric dance.
Lesufi said teachers at the school had caught the guard in the act.
The fuming MEC said he would be interrogating school officials as to why the patroller was at the dance in the first place.
Lesufi added that he was working with the provincial Community Safety Department, which is responsible for recruiting patrollers, to try to prevent incidents such as these occurring again.
@khayakoko88