Five staffers to stay home amid rape allegations at north school
The staff members have been asked not to report to work at the school "because of their own safety."
Five staff members at the Khensani primary school have been requested by the Gauteng education department to stay home following rape allegations.
A grade one learner was raped allegedly by a general worker at the school a week ago.
MEC for Education Panyaza Lesufi said the five staff members, which include four general assistants and a volunteer, have been asked not to report to work while investigations were underway.
“The problem with the volunteer is that ever since the incident happened, he has not reported for duty, so we have requested the police to follow up on that,” he said.
He said the reason to ask the five individuals not to report to work was because of their own safety. “There are people who wanted to burn down the school today. There were people who wanted to attack the staff at the school and people who wanted to destroy property. On the basis of that, we felt the staff members should not report to work.
“I’m told that people are planning to shut down the school tomorrow so we need police to protect the school.”
Lesufi said they have learnt from previous experiences where a similar case was thrown out of court due to shoddy investigations.
The incident happened in Soweto where a security guard was accused of sexually harassing 25 learners.
“We lost that case because of the shoddy investigations and shoddy reporting. The court did not agree with us. Up until today, I still feel we failed those children. I do not want to add this child to that list.”
He said he was willing to place the child at a different school at the parents’ request.
“They said they are consulting as a family. We indicated that whatever decision they take, we will implement as the department.
“We also gave them feedback on the police investigations as well as on the decision we have taken about the staff members not reporting for duty,” he said.
“We will do everything in our power as the department to make sure that we identify the culprit and that the law must take its course.”
The father of the child said the only thing they want is justice and for the culprit to be found.
“We do not know if we should take the child back to the school or not because the culprit might still be there.
“It took the department five days to remove someone from the school despite the serious allegations.”
Soshanguve police spokesperson Constable Portia Sebone confirmed that police were investigating the case but could not confirm whether anyone has been arrested.
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