News24 reports that the head of Pretoria High School for Girls, where controversy over a “racist conversation” on a WhatsApp group emerged last year, has been found guilty of allowing her husband to assist with maintaining the school gardens without compensation.
According to the allegations, Phillipa Erasmus’ husband’s supervision of the garden workers at the school “could create the perception of nepotism.” Reportedly, he began maintaining the school gardens in 2019 with the governing body’s approval. Part of the complaint stated that he used a vehicle owned by the governing body to travel to Builders Warehouse to purchase gardening tools. Erasmus was also found guilty of not sufficiently assisting the governing body with the appointment of a new financial manager. However, she was acquitted of the charge related to her handling of the racial controversy. Erasmus faced heavy criticism over “discrimination and racism” at the school after white students complained in a WhatsApp group that they were subjected to stricter rules compared to their Black classmates. An investigation found that the students were not guilty of racism, but Erasmus was still subjected to disciplinary proceedings. According to Dems Nel of the SA Teachers’ Union (SATU), who represented Erasmus, she was never charged with racism. The charge on which she was acquitted was merely that she did not enforce the school’s code of conduct. Meanwhile, Erasmus and the governing body are still trying to gain access to the full report compiled by a law firm that investigated the school’s culture last year at the department’s request. The department only released a summary of the report but has refused to share the complete document with anyone. Erasmus will soon find out her sentence for the two charges she was found guilty of. The punishment could range from a warning to suspension without pay or even demotion.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Ruhan Friedrichs at City Press (subscription / trial registration required)
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