Stricter measures against sexual offenders in schools

The department briefed the Education Portfolio Committee on Basic Education on Wednesday.

The department’s spokesperson, Elijah Mhlanga, says the three processes the witness or victim had to go through to tell their story will now be combined in order to reduce secondary trauma.

"In the past there were three platforms available to learners who are victims of sexual misconduct or witnesses. These were: the Provincial Department of Education’s internal disciplinary hearing processes; the SACE (South African Council of Educators) investigative process where the child is also required to testify; and the ELRC arbitration process, in the event that the teacher refers a dispute to the council.

Up to now children and parents have been reluctant to testify afresh due to the secondary trauma that learners would be subjected to. This resulted in the absence of witnesses in many instances and a lack of evidence for the employer to act on," Mhlanga says.

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Mhlanga says this has resulted to teachers being reinstated, creating a loophole for offenders.

He says to remove their chances of reinstatement, the department together with the Department of Justice, decided that any person fingered as an offender will be put on a sexual offenders list.

"We want people who have been alleged to do this to be named so that they do not get another appointment during the investigation. Those are gaps we are trying to close. We want our children to be protected from this, because there are a still a lot of them getting away because there was no evidence or because they were able to move," Mhlanga says.

Mhlanga says they are going prioritise these cases and ensure they come to a speedy conclusion.