Videos that show two women, allegedly a mother and daughter who are teachers, manhandling and beating toddlers at a crèche in Pretoria Gardens have sent shockwaves across the country.

Darwin’s Educational Playground Aftercare crèche is owned by sisters, Lizelle Guida Zimmermann and Lucinda Correia. They, together with their mother, Anna Peyper Correia, also teach at the school.

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

In one harrowing video, a 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 the senior Correia, is seen using force to get a blonde little girl to sit in a certain position on the floor.

In a third video, a woman who appears to be Zimmerman, is seen spanking a boy in front of his classmates.

Gauteng Education Department spokesperson Steve Mabona says that they are aware and ‘extremely disturbed by this unfortunate incident’.

“Information at our disposal is that the incident allegedly occurred in 2021.

“The implicated centre operates as a private crèche and is not registered as a partial care facility with the Gauteng Department of Education, under the Children’s Act 38 of 2005,” Mabona says.

He confirmed that the parents of the affected child have opened a child abuse case at their local police station.

“A team of officials has been allocated to investigate and intervene accordingly. The report will be finalised when all due processes have been concluded.”

Watch the videos here: Shocking videos of toddlers beaten at Pretoria crèche

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

One mother confirmed that the Gauteng education department contacted them and arranged for therapy while the other mother said she has not been contacted by the department.

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

The newspaper was informed that the school is still operating as normal despite all the allegations.

The owners of the school, Zimmerman and Correia, were contacted for comment. They were also asked for contact details for their mother.

They referred the newspaper to their lawyer, Jaco Koster, who denies the allegations on their behalf.

Koster says 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.

An investigation by the newspaper revealed that the school opened its doors in 2018 and not 2020, as Koster states.

It was reported on Tuesday that the school has not been registered as the application to register the school had not been submitted yet.