Commission for Gender Equality probes sexual violence in schools

According to a preliminary report from the Commission for Gender Equality (CGE), there should be grave concern over the rise of sexual violence in schools perpetrated by both learners and educators, including public service workers. Following an assessment conducted by the commission, it was revealed that North West, Gauteng, Northern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal seem to have the highest record of sexual violence cases.

Limpopo:

At the Mukhwantheli Secondary School allegedly fell pregnant, 31 girls have fallen pregnant, three of them by the same male teacher.

An educator was reported to have been arrested for allegedly raping a 14-year-old learner on the way from school.

North West:

A male Grade 4 educator allegedly sexually abused 30 Grade 4 learners at Klerksdop Primary School.

Northern Cape:

At the same school of Boithutong, 30 learners were alleged to have been impregnated by educators.

A 15-year-old learner with a mental disability was allegedly raped by two of her male classmates who are said to have mental disabilities.

The recent spate of violence in schools is widespread and has been a growing concern since the beginning of 2019. Even though experts say the violence is not increasing but remains high, the Department of Basic Education (DBE) alongside the South African Council of Educators (SACE) battled to elaborate when they were probed about their mechanisms, policies and concerted efforts that are in place to deal with the violence – particularly sexual violence.

“Our understanding was that our responses to the commission must be based on what is indicated in these letters. The letter is specific about the cases that province is going to deal with, and we have no information on what we are expected to present to the commission regarding those cases,” said Mathanzima Mweli, director-general for DBE.

In their written replies, there seemed to be “miscommunication” between the education department and the commission regarding whether it was agreed that Mweli would make an oral submission detailing the department’s policies and systems to monitor, investigate and tackle sexual violence cases in schools. Not only was Mweli ill-prepared, he evaded answering critical questions, by using section 40(1) of the Constitution which delegates how the three spheres of government relate to one another. His interpretation of this subsection was that national, provincial and local government are independent.

In response to Mweli’s reasoning, commissioner Mbuyiselo Botha said: “More often than not DG, we hear these excuses.”

Nonetheless, after a short adjournment, the commission uneasily continued with the process and resorted to probe Mweli without his submissions. Yet, he still failed to answer most of the questions, continuously saying: “I do not have that information with me now, but I’d be more than happy to send it later to you in writing.”

Both the department of education and the educator’s council appeared before the commission as part of an investigation instituted by the Chapter 9 body to probe the prevalence of sexual violence in schools.

Speaking to Daily Maverick, acting chairperson of the commission, Tamara Mathebula, said:

“We instituted this process because there were quite a number of complaints brought to CGE’s attention by both parents, students and some concerned teachers saying that there are certain provinces and schools where there is sexual violence amongst learners, and also from teachers.”

A 2013 study published by the Centre for Justice and Crime Prevention (CJCP) noted that 11.2% of learners in the Northern Cape and 9.2% in both the Free State and Western Cape reported having been sexually assaulted, compared to 0.7% learners in Gauteng.

Based on statistics submitted by SACE – which was later accused of them being outdated – there are fewer cases reported of sexual violence perpetrated by educators compared to cases of corporal punishment. The head of legal services and ethics for the educator’s council, George Moroasui, told the panel of commissioners that Mpumalanga recorded 25 sexual offences cases in comparison to 19 for corporal punishment between 2016/17. Meanwhile, Gauteng reported an equal number for both offences in the same period.

However, the numbers were scrutinised by the panel which found them outdated and underreported.

“The numbers you have presented show us underreporting because of the shame that is associated with victimisation and labelling. We can actually take those numbers, because it’s a sample, and multiply them by more than nine. We take those numbers knowing that they are a proportion of the actual incidences of sexual violence,” said commissioner Nthabiseng Moleko.

“You have presented to us a 2017 study. This is the presentation you do at every event when you get called. You just cut and paste,” said a livid commissioner Nthabiseng Mogale.

Furthermore, when probed about the vetting process followed by SACE as the educator’s registry, Moroasui said even though an MOU was recently signed, in the past they have had difficulty obtaining information from the Department of Social Development of people found to be unsuitable to work with children.

“If the act (Children’s Act) doesn’t allow you to access information, why hasn’t SACE said change the act to allow us to get the information directly?” asked commissioner Moleko.

In response, Moroasui said: “We are in the process of amending our act, we have submitted our comments. We want to criminalise certain actions which were not in the act all along. Mostly they relate to sexual cases.”

Additionally, the heads of department from four of the provinces with the highest recorded cases of sexual violence were summoned to make submissions. But these were presented in camera due to the sensitivity of cases.

“We are not happy with the submissions made today. The DG of the department of basic education was not prepared, he did not prepare a submission for the commission. With SACE, we have a few of concerns and do think there are some areas where they are not doing their work as an independent statutory body which is supposed to deal with the misconduct of educators,” said commissioner Mathebula.

Submissions from the heads of the departments continued on Wednesday 2 October and the commission said findings and recommendations will be made after the investigation is finalised. DM