Parents of pupils attending Ncandu Combined School rose up to oust the school’s principal amidst allegations of sexual assault against him.
A matriculant at the school alleges that the principal called her into his office for a meeting, before proceeding to kiss and touch her inappropriately.
This occurred a month ago, and the principal has still been attending work as usual.
During a parent teacher meeting on Tuesday, April 22, parents demanded to know what was being done about the case.
“During the meeting, a member of the Department of Education came to the school, and suspended the principal until the investigation into the matter is completed,” said concerned resident, Lucky Shabalala.
He went on to question the integrity of the school, due to the fact that in took the school this long to address the matter, while students had taken to toy-toying against the principal.
Mr Shabalala was adamant that although the principal had been suspended, parents still felt that more needed to change.
The School Governing Body (SGB) had still not approached parents with the resolutions it was ready to take.
“We suspect that the governing body is not doing its fair share of work to address the matter,” explained one of the parents, Smokey Nkosi.
Ms Nkosi explained that the parents had been pleased with actions taken by the department to address the matter, but the same could not be said about the governing body.
“We have never seen a change in the school, since the governing body, and this principal have taken over,” she added.
The school has since elected the deputy principal as an interim principal, and will meet again with parents in the coming weeks to further address the matter.
The provincial spokesman for the Department of Education, Muzi Mahlambi, explained that the department were extremely shocked and disappointed by the incident.
“We have suspended the principal for the remainder of the police investigation. It is extremely saddening for such an incident to take place, because teachers are supposed to act as parents to their pupils,” said Mr Mahlambi.
The principal has since denied the allegations against him, and Police investigations continue.
