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News24 reports that a North West teacher has been fired after the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) found him guilty of sexually harassing a 15-year-old Grade 9 pupil.
The council found that the Letlopi Secondary School teacher was not suitable to work with children and should be dismissed. The pupil told the ELRC that in June last year when she came from the bathroom with her friend, her teacher, Jacob Setlhare, arrived to lock the bathroom and told her to meet him at his office. When Setlhare arrived at his office, he closed the door and started touching the pupil’s body to kiss her, but she refused and pushed the teacher away. Thereafter she ran to her classroom, fetched her schoolbag and went home. The pupil said she felt "hurt" and "scared" after the incident. Setlhare initially denied the allegations but later admitted to the school's deputy principal that he had kissed the pupil on the cheek. During the hearing, however, he denied kissing the pupil and said he had only confessed because of his sour relationship with the deputy principal and threats he had received from the pupil's family. But ELRC arbitrator S Fourie found that it was "highly likely" that Setlhare had touched and kissed the pupil. Fourie noted that the refusal by Setlhare to admit guilt and thereby show remorse for his misconduct was a serious aggravating factor.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jeanette Chabalala at News24
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