The principal was suspended without pay for allowing her husband to help with gardening duties at the high school.
The suspension without pay of the principal of Pretoria High School for Girl for letting her husband assist with maintaining the school gardens without compensation has been described as absurd and unfair.
DA Gauteng shadow MEC for education Sergio Isa Dos Santos said finding Philippa Erasmus guilty shows a department more focused on saving face than on achieving justice or improving educational outcomes.
DA accuses department of political harassment
“We call on Gauteng education MEC Matome Chiloane to reverse this decision and put an end to the ongoing harassment and humiliation of this dedicated principal,” he said.
“This outcome reinforces our consistent assertion that under Matome, the department will go to great lengths to justify its political vendetta against Erasmus.”
Dos Santos said the Gauteng department of education’s persecution of Erasmus, who has now been found guilty on a “frivolous charge” because her husband Mike volunteered to assist with landscaping, was “unacceptable and delays progressive learning and teaching at the school”.
Original racism claims dismissed, charges shift
Dos Santos said the initial investigation focused on allegations of racism, for which she was cleared.
“Instead of accepting this outcome, the department strayed from the original terms of reference in a desperate attempt to find evidence that could prove the principal’s guilt and subsequent punishment.”
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Teacher union SAOU spokesperson Dems Nel said Erasmus was suspended and “labelled a racist for no reason”.
“Despite the fact that there were numerous allegations of racism at the school, Erasmus was never charged with this. She was charged with failing to implement the school’s code of conduct,” said Nel.
“SAOU represented Erasmus during the disciplinary hearing and she was found not guilty on the charge.”
Union steps in
Nel said the SAOU had to step in and refer a dispute to the Education Labour Relations Council to ensure that she was reinstated as principal.
“The department of education appointed a law firm to conduct an investigation and she was, upon completion of the investigation, charged based on the outcome of such investigation,” he said.
“The purpose of the investigation was to determine if there was racism at the school. To date, the contents of the report have not been made public, and not even the persons charged have had the opportunity to see what the investigation yielded and to be able to respond.
‘This is unfair’
“This is unfair and the SAOU is still pursuing the matter through the information regulator to obtain the report,” he added.
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Nel said it was true that she was found guilty of charge 2, which dealt with the appointment of the school’s financial manager, as well as charge 3, which dealt with her husband’s involvement in managing the school’s gardeners and the use of the school’s vehicle.
“After mitigating and aggravating circumstances were submitted, a sanction of suspension without pay for three months was imposed. The presiding officer chose not to implement any of the other possible sanctions,” he added.
Legal processes still ongoing
Nel said the SAOU and Erasmus were currently working through the information and, after all possible options have been considered, “will make an informed decision on whether or not to take the matter further”.
“The department failed to deal with the grievance and the SAOU then brought a court application to ask for an interdict to compel the employer to deal with the grievance,” he said.
“The department has failed to file its opposing affidavit to the application and the SAOU is currently waiting for the case to be set down.”
Nel said the SAOU already lodged a grievance in 2024 “regarding the way in which our members were treated by the employer before and during the investigation”.
The department had not yet commented by the time of publication.
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