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The Citizen reports that a Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) college senior lecturer dismissed for sexual harassment has failed in his bid to be reinstated.
The Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) confirmed that his sacking had been fair. Central Johannesburg College Langlaagte Campus lecturer John Vike was dismissed by the Gauteng Department of Higher Education and Training following a disciplinary hearing in May 2024. He appealed the outcome, but the sanction was upheld in July this year. Vike then challenged the outcome at the ELRC, arguing that the hearing chairperson was biased and that the dismissal was too harsh.
The case stemmed from an incident in April 2023 involving Zinhle Mkhize, a 31-year-old business management student, who testified that while walking together, Vike asked whether she was available over the upcoming long weekend. Before she responded, he asked whether the cellphone number on her student file was correct for contacting her. When she questioned why he wanted this information, Vike became annoyed and walked off. Vike later approached her, pleaded with her not to report the matter, and stood uncomfortably close, prompting her to push him away. Mkhize stressed that she had never had a personal relationship with Vike and felt violated by his questions. She also claimed that afterwards, he avoided her, mocked the incident in class, made comments that forced her to leave lessons, and even encouraged other students to persuade her to drop the case.
The arbitrator acknowledged that Vike had not touched Mkhize, had not attempted a second advance after she rejected him, had not used profanity, and had not made an explicitly crude suggestion when asking to see her over the weekend. She also noted that Mkhize was an adult and that the two were of similar age. However, she emphasised that none of these factors changed the fact that intimate or romantic relationships between lecturers and students were strictly prohibited. The arbitrator also concluded that Vike “was not truthful during his testimony about how the conversation actually went”. She concluded that his dismissal was both “substantively and procedurally fair”.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Molefe Seeletsa at The Citizen
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