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TimesLIVE reports that a teacher who was found to have engaged in a sexual relationship with a 16-year old female pupil was dismissed in an award made by the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) on Tuesday.
Panelist Mbulelo Safa found that the Eastern Cape education department had proved, on a balance of probabilities, that Luthando Balan was guilty of the charges against him. The department led the girl’s evidence. She testified that the teacher was her history teacher in 2024 when she was in grade 11 and aged 16. She said she and Balan were in a romantic relationship which started early that year until about April this year. She confirmed that her older sister, who is a student teacher, also had a relationship with Balam, but she could not say if the relationship was still going on. She disputed the teacher’s version that he only had a relationship with her older sister. She said her parents found out about the relationship when her sister reported it to them.
After the teacher admitted to the relationship, the pupil’s father told him to stop the relationship, to which he agreed. But, this year the father discovered through messages on his daughter’s cellphone that the relationship was continuing. The teacher testified that the charge against him was false, fabricated and had no basis. As to his alleged admission, he said the father had pointed a gun at him and assaulted him so he admitted to the relationship and apologised. On the gun incident, the arbitrator said: “In the evidence led there were several instances where the [teacher] admitted to the relationship without a gun being produced. I am therefore unable to conclude that the [teacher] was intimidated and admitted because he feared for his life.”
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Ernest Mabuza at TimesLIVE
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