Sunday Times Daily reports that when a principal and her deputy approached a teacher seated in her car at school and asked her to come to the office because a circuit manager wanted to see her, she blatantly refused.

Instead, she got out of her car and went to a class. Arabang Semunza’s failure to obey “reasonable instructions” cost her a job at Connie Minchin Primary School in Mahikeng in North West after she was dismissed on 13 January last year for misconduct. She was found guilty on eight charges, including corporal punishment; failing to sign the staff register; refusing to attend a meeting in the principal’s office; refusing to undergo Covid-19 screening; and failing to submit grades 4 and 6 life skills files for monitoring in terms one and two in 2021. Semunza then lodged a dispute with the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC). On Thursday, arbitrator Thobela Ncetezo found that Semunza’s dismissal had been procedurally and substantively fair. The arbitrator was told that the Semunza would stay in her car, not the staffroom, and leave without seeking permission from the principal, even though the rules stated that a teacher must be in the staffroom when they were not in class. The applicant never signed the attendance register because she was apparently always late for work. Ncetezo indicated in his award that it was evident that Semunza “showed disrespect to her seniors, including a senior official who visited the school to address her conduct”. He commented: “The demeanour of the applicant [Semunza] gave the impression of a lack of remorse and understanding of the consequences of her actions.”

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Prega Govender at Sunday Times Daily (subscriber access only)

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