The former teacher was found to have kissed a 13-year-old pupil on two occasions.
A primary school teacher in Mpumalanga has been dismissed after the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) found him guilty of misconduct involving a Grade 7 pupil.
The Mpumalanga Department of Education initiated disciplinary action against Andries Lodewick Lombaard, who was an English teacher at Laerskool Klipfontein in Emalahleni.
The matter was referred to the ELRC following allegations that he kissed a 13-year-old pupil on two occasions earlier this year.
Pupil’s evidence
During the arbitration hearing, the Grade 7 pupil testified that Lombaard taught her English during the 2024 academic year, but was no longer her teacher in 2025.
She told the council that they became closer in November 2024.
According to her testimony, they communicated through WhatsApp statuses and Snapchat, exchanging text messages and random pictures.
The 13-year-old girl said she frequently visited Lombaard’s classroom, sometimes with other pupils and at other times alone.
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She testified that the first kissing incident occurred during February or March this year in the storeroom attached to Lombaard’s classroom, where the teacher kissed her, and she reciprocated.
She said the second incident occurred a few days later, again in the storeroom, when she hugged Lombaard before they kissed.
The pupil told the ELRC that she later confided in another pupil, who reported the matter to the school’s after-care worker, Natalie Pienaar.
Mother informed about kissing incidents
When Pienaar questioned the 13-year-old about the incident, she admitted to the kissing.
Pienaar subsequently informed the pupil’s mother.
The complainant further testified that even after the incidents became known, she and Lombaard continued communicating on WhatsApp.
She recounted that while she was on holiday with her family, they continued talking on Snapchat.
The 13-year-old also revealed that she wrote a letter to Lombaard because she believed he might think she had deliberately disclosed the incidents to others.
In the letter, she apologised for what had happened.
She added that after her mother discovered WhatsApp status messages were still being exchanged between her and Lombaard, she instructed her to delete them from her cellphone, which she did.
Witness testimony
Pienaar testified before the ELRC and corroborated most of the pupil’s evidence.
Another witness, Denesy van Dyk, also supported the pupil’s version and Pienaar’s testimony.
Van Dyk said she instructed the 13-year-old that there should be no further contact with Lombaard.
She further testified that she regularly checked the pupil’s cellphone and discovered screenshots showing communications between the pupil and Lombaard.
Van Dyk said she forwarded the screenshots to herself and to the pupil’s father.
Lombaard’s defence
Lombaard denied that there was any intimate or special relationship between him and the pupil, and rejected the allegation that any kissing occurred.
He testified that the 13-year-old had never visited his classroom alone, stating that pupils regularly came to his class in groups to greet him or ask how his day was going.
He also denied having any communication with the pupil either before or after the alleged incidents.
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Lombaard claimed that the only Snapchat and WhatsApp messages he sent were intended for his two estranged girlfriends.
He further testified that he did not know Pienaar prior to the matter arising.
The teacher added that he previously administered a WhatsApp group for pupils, but said it was discontinued after the allegations emerged.
He alleged that the pupil may have fabricated the allegations because she had a crush on him.
ELRC ruling
In his judgment, ELRC arbitrator Moraka Abel Makgaa said that after analysing the entire evidence, he was persuaded that the pupil’s version should be preferred over Lombaard’s testimony.
“The totality of Mr Lombaard, on the other hand, was characterised by bare denials and lacked important details,” Makgaa said.
He emphasised that it could reasonably be concluded that the kissing incidents did occur.
“I am not prepared to accept the proposition that the whole kissing incident had everything to do with an ulterior motive on the part of the complainant and/or her mother.
“There was no credible evidence which was adduced by the employee party to support the existence of a conspiracy theory against Mr Lombaard by the complainant and her mother.”
Makgaa found Lombaard guilty of misconduct and ruled that he was unsuitable to work with children.
“The employee, Andries Lodewick Lombaard, is hereby dismissed as an employee of the Mpumalanga Department of Education.”
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