The Citizen reports that the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) has ruled that a Gauteng teacher must be dismissed after he allegedly raped a Grade 11 pupil at his home, while threatening her with a firearm.

The Gauteng Department of Education (GDoE) brought the teacher before the ELRC, but he failed to attend his arbitration proceedings. He faced three charges of misconduct, namely raping a pupil on 13 February 2025, pointing a firearm at her during the incident, and sending her sexually explicit WhatsApp messages. After the case had been referred for inquiry, the teacher ignored both the pre-hearing on 18 June and the scheduled hearing on 24 July at the department’s Johannesburg West District office. It later emerged that he was not interested in attending the inquiry because his focus was on his criminal rape case arising from the same incident.

The hearing went ahead in his absence. The GDoE described the teacher’s actions as deliberate and predatory. Comparing him to a predator, the department argued he was like a “hunting lion” who knew how to “scale, plan and prey on his victims”. The ELRC arbitrator upheld all charges and ordered the teacher’s dismissal, stating it was necessary to send a strong message to the other employees.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Molefe Seeletsa at The Citizen

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