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News24 reports that barely three months after sexually assaulting a matric pupil on 22 February 2022, a teacher allegedly touched two other Grade 12 pupils' breasts.
However, the teacher from the Combined Agricultural School in the Free State did not face the music for the second incident reported on 27 May 2022 because the case did not reach the provincial education department's offices in Mangaung. Now, in an unprecedented move, Mark Hawyes, a senior panellist from the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) who presided over the teacher's arbitration hearing in the February 2022 matter, has recommended that the department investigate why the complaint by the other two girls did not reach the official responsible for handling sexual misconduct cases. In his motivation for sending the sanction to the Free State Department of Education, Hawyes said several "disturbing facts" were revealed during the inquiry. Among them was another teacher who "made a concerted effort to bring undue influence on witnesses" to discourage them from testifying against the accused teacher "so that the employee could be left to continue his sexual exploits". ELRC general secretary Cindy Foca reported that between April 2022 and March 2023, 10 cases of sexual harassment/assault and 30 of improper conduct were addressed at disciplinary hearings in the Free State Department of Education. She also reported: "During this period, [since 17 January, when schools opened for the 2024 academic year] six educators were found guilty of sexual misconduct and dismissed. These cases were referred at different times in 2023 and the arbitrations were finalised in the current year".
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Prega Govender at News24
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