Posed pictures to illustrate sexual harassment. File picture: Kim Ludbrook/Independent Media archives.
Cape Town - A Mitchells Plain high school teacher has filed a complaint with police, alleging that a department head at the school had continually sexually harassed and assaulted her.
The provincial Education Department is also investigating the matter and said the case was the latest after 19 different and unrelated cases of sexual assault and 15 cases of sexual harassment were reported to them since the beginning of last year.
The victim, 24, said she resigned from the school as she couldn’t bear the ordeal of working around the alleged perpetrator.
The victim, who cannot be named, said she resigned in November, alleging that in the few months that she worked at the school, she was continuously harassed and violated by the teacher.
She said the incidents started two weeks after she began working at the school in February last year.
She said the teacher was one of two department heads “and presented himself as a powerful, trustworthy man.
“When I needed a lift home one day, he offered. I didn’t think anything of it."
“We spoke (about) work at first, then he started asking me inappropriate questions about boyfriends and what my boundaries are with him. He also asked me about the type of men I sleep with.
“I began feeling uncomfortable because I realised what was happening. He rested his hand on my knee and I froze.”
The victim said at this point she got out of the car after the man had stopped at the beach instead of taking her straight home.
“I felt uneasy because I asked him to step back, then later he would start making comments about spanking me and even though I turned my face away, kissed me,” she said.
“I wanted to go home and told him so.”
She said after that the man continued making advances at school.
“He would walk past me and rub his arm against my breast, he would rub my stomach without my consent. There were instances when I really felt violated, especially the time he asked me what bra size I wear and if he could see and the time he put his fingers through the loopholes in my pants.”
She said the breaking point came in the third term when she was offered a permanent position at the school and her alleged abuser made her believe it was his doing.
“He told me that he organised it and told those in power to hire me. He then started abusing his powers and made me mark his scripts. I later learnt that I didn't need to do it and it was his job. I was exhausted and tired and scared and depressed,” she said.
“While driving home with a female colleague I decided to open up and tell her. She was disgusted and I suppose told the principal about what happened.”
She said the man started acting out after she reported his behaviour.
“I was using his class to have lessons, but (after the complaint) he would lock his class and I had to use the field to teach.”
At the end of the term she decided to leave her job and is now unemployed.
Nosipho Daniels, the director and founder of Malihambe Women Outreach, a non-profit organisation supporting abused women, said she had advised the teacher to meet with psychologists
Khalid Sayed, the ANC’s provincial spokesperson on education, said when the matter was brought to his attention by the victim, he sensed the deep psychological effect that ordeal had had on her.
Sayed said it was unacceptable that no action had been taken at that stage against the alleged perpetrator.
“We call on Western Cape Education Department (WCED) to immediately suspend the alleged perpetrator pending the conclusion of the criminal investigation,” Sayed said.
WCED spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said the department was aware of the case.
Hammond said the matter was reported to Labour Relations, investigated and a formal charge was served.
“A disciplinary hearing is scheduled for later this month. The alleged victim resigned from her position last year and is no longer in our employ,” she said.
Hammond said since the start of 2021, there had been 19 cases of sexual assault and 15 of sexual harassment reported to the WCED.
Police spokesperson FC Van Wyk confirmed that a complaint had been lodged.
“No arrest has been made as yet. Investigations continue,” he said.
sisonke.mlamla@inl.co.za