TimesLIVE reports that a teacher has lost an appeal to overturn his axing for allegedly sexually assaulting a pupil.  The Education Labour Relations Council issued its finding against Wonderboy Ngwane last week.  

Ngwane, who taught dramatic arts at Northbury Park Secondary School in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, allegedly sexually assaulted the 18-year-old girl in July.  He appealed to the council against his dismissal by the provincial education department, which he deemed unfair.  The incident in the taxi in which the pupil said Ngwane touched “her hair, then her neck, her breast and her private part” and then took her “hand and placed it on his private part” was reported to the school, the pupil’s parent, the child protection unit and the education department.  Ngwane failed to appear at his disciplinary hearing despite being notified.  Humphrey Ndaba, who chaired the appeal, said even though the assault happened outside school premises, “it falls within the category of offences that will attract discipline from the employer”.  He added that a dismissal sanction was “an appropriate measure to ensure that learners are protected from potential acts of sexual assaults.”

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Philani Nombembe at TimesLIVE

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