Two Pretoria teachers, who were seemingly caught on camera beating children at Darwin’s Educational Playground Aftercare crèche, are being investigated.

This comes after recent videos surfaced that allegedly show two teachers, a mother and her daughter, manhandling and beating toddlers at the crèche in Pretoria Gardens.

The crèche is owned by two sisters, Lizelle Guida Zimmermann and Lucinda Correia, who also teach at the school. Their mother, Anna Peyper Correia, is also involved as a teacher.

The videos were taken by a teacher who reported that she could not bear to witness the behaviour such as what has been captured on video any longer.

According to the teacher, Tiffany Mostert, she had tried to warn parents that their children were being beaten at the school. Her allegations, when shared with the parents, were met with disbelief. Mostert, therefore, felt that she needed proof and decided to film what happened at the school.

In an interview with Rekord, she recalled speaking to one of the mothers.

“I told the mother that she needed to know that her child was being beaten,” she said.
She claimed that Lizelle and her mother, Anna, had done the beating.

“The mother did not take me seriously and jokingly asked where my proof was. That was when I decided to start filming the incidents.”

Mostert resigned earlier this year.

“Emotionally, this had taken a toll on me. I just couldn’t sleep anymore, knowing that nothing was being done to stop them.

“I grew up in an abusive house and felt that I did not do enough to help my siblings. These incidents triggered me, and I know that I can help these children by revealing these videos.”

In one harrowing video, the woman is seen spanking a child in the toilet.

According to Mostert, the child was beaten after refusing to eat.

In another video, a woman who appears to be Anna, is seen using force to get a blonde little girl to sit in a certain position on the floor.

In another video, a woman who appears to be Lizelle is seen spanking a boy in front of his classmates. The scared children are seen standing around, crying hysterically.

Rekord spoke to the mothers of two children seen in the videos.

Both have since removed their children from the school and have opened child abuse cases at the Hercules police station.

“I was sick to my stomach when I saw the video of my little girl being treated like this. When I was informed of the video, we immediately removed both my children from the school.”

The mother said she confronted Lizelle and Lucinda with the video footage.

“I showed it to them, but they did not respond. They just looked at me in shock.”

She said they would be taking their little girl for therapy as these incidents have traumatised her.

“If someone raises their voice around her, she immediately starts crying and she is struggling with nightmares.”

The mother, who is furious about the matter, said she wanted justice for her little girl.

“I cannot believe that people like this are allowed to be around children.”

Police spokesperson Captain Augustinah Selepe confirmed that two cases of assault have been opened and are being investigated.

She said two cases of assault have been open for investigation. One of these was withdrawn while the other matter would be brought to Senior Public Prosecution (SPP) for decision.

Rekord contacted both Lizelle and Lucinda for comment and asked for contact details for Anna but was referred to their lawyer, Jaco Koster, who answered on their behalf.

“We do not condone or allow the use of corporal punishment at our school,” he said.
“We endeavour to treat every child in our school as our own, and we are investigating the allegations.”

Koster said the school was started in 2020 with only six children and has now grown to 35 children in the crèche and 30 children in aftercare.

After some investigation, Rekord discovered that the school opened its doors in 2018 and not 2020, as stated by Koster.

When asked whether the school was registered, they said they had submitted all documents to register.

Koster said that a Sandra Gomes of the South African Board of Day Care Centres was assisting the school in getting registered.

Rekord contacted Sandra, who revealed that the application to register the school had not been submitted yet.

“We were informed by the Department of Basic Education (DBE) to put a hold on all applications until further notice as all early childhood development (ECD) centres were being moved from the Department of Social Development to the DBE.”

Sandra also said she was only approached by the school in 2020 to start with the application process.

Rekord also asked Koster how many qualified teachers and assistants there were at the school.

“In terms of the legislation, you do not need to be a qualified teacher; however, I can confirm that all seven of our employees have a first aid qualification, three of our employees have a basic firefighting qualification, and three of our employees are currently studying for a degree in Education (B.Ed).”

Koster said while they could not confirm that the videos were taken at Darwin’s, he said that an internal investigation was underway.

“None of the videos clearly show the premises and/or personnel allegedly involved. We are, however, investigating the matter internally.”

Meanwhile, Gauteng Education Department spokesperson Steve Mabona could not yet confirm if an investigation is underway.

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