More school sexual assault cases reported
Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi says his office has received reports of more sexual assault cases at schools in the province.
He made the announcement following the brief court appearance of a 57-year-old man accused of sexually assaulting 87 schoolgirls in Soweto.
"I received two cases yesterday which is unfortunate. A school patroller is accused of sexually abusing a learner in Hammanskraal. We have attended to the issue and fortunately there was a court case and the parents are going to find us the information," Lesufi says.
He says in the second case, a choirmaster has been accused of sexually abusing a learner.
"The parents came forward and sent me information through the department. We are going through the file to check if this was a relationship or a sexual assault, but the family insists it was sexual assault," the MEC says.
Lesufi insists the scourge of sexual assault at schools must be investigated.
"We might need to establish a crack squad or a task team to assist us to attend to these cases. This will also make it easy for others who went through some of the difficulties and felt that those cases were not reported."
He says some of the cases are old and were reported and nothing done.