The Star reports that a Gauteng teacher has lost a bid to hold the Department of Basic Education accountable for an attack on her.  The teacher from Smangaliso Mkhatshwa Secondary School in Winterveldt took the department and the school governing body to court for damages after being stabbed by a pupil in 2014.  

The pupil, who had been reprimanded by another male teacher because his hairstyle did not comply with the school dress code, stabbed the female teacher, inflicting three wounds on her left shoulder.  The teacher took the department and the school to the North Gauteng High Court to demand damages from the stabbings, claiming they failed to offer protection for her while she was at work.  Judge Joseph Raulinga ruled in favour of the department’s argument that the teacher’s claim was precluded in terms of the Compensation for Occupational Injuries and Diseases Act.  Citing a previous case, Judge Raulinga indicated:  “Occupational injury is defined as personal injury sustained as a result of an accident… It follows, therefore, that any personal injury sustained by an employee caused by any criminal act arising out of and during the course of an employee’s employment amounts to an accident.  Raulinga ruled that the department and the school had not been negligent and therefore the teacher was “not entitled to the damages claim”.

• Read the full original of the The Star’s report in the above regard by Tebogo Monama at Security.co.za

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