Staff Reporter

THE Basic Education Laws Amendment (BELA) Bill wants to amend the South African Schools Act (SASA), 84 of 1996 and the Educators Employment Act (EEA), 76 of 1998 to address sexual misconduct by educators.

It was recommended that section 17(1)(c) be amended to read that an educator must be dismissed if he or she is found guilty of sexual harassment, sexual assault, rape or statutory rape of a learner.

Such an explicit identification of the different forms of serious misconduct will provide clarity and provide necessary guidance in these cases.

It was also necessary to clarify the definitions of misconduct and serious misconduct in a manner that aligns with the Constitution, the Children’s Act, and existing sexual offences laws.

Recommends were that the law should be amended not to allow teachers who are appealing a decision of educator sexual misconduct against them to continue teaching.

Instead, educators whose matters are on appeal must be placed on paid suspension and only be allowed to work with children once the appeal is finalised.

Where an educator resigns whilst under investigation for sexual misconduct or while suspended and before the disciplinary process is completed, they must be deemed dismissed. The legislative framework should be amended to provide that, where an educator who is under investigation for educator sexual misconduct seeks employment at a different school, information on the allegations should be provided to the school.

Schools must share the outcome of disciplinary proceedings with the Provincial Education Departments (PEDs) and the South African Council for Educators (SACE), regardless of the perceived seriousness of the allegation of educator sexual misconduct.

INSIDE EDUCATION

Lerato Mbhiza

THE Limpopo Education MEC Mavhungu Lerule-Ramakhanya has dispatched social workers to the Mpirwabirwa Secondary School in Mokopane following the death of a Grade 12 learner.

Spokesperson Mike Maringa said the team will offer psycho-social support to the pupils and staff at the school after a fight during a school camp resulted in the death of Willem Ngoepe.

Lerule-Ramakhanya has since sent a message of condolences to the Ngoepe family following the sudden death of their son.

Maringa said Ngoepe died on Friday after he was allegedly hit on the head with an object by another learner at the matric school camp in the school premises.

“The incident happened at Mpirwabirwa Secondary School on Thursday evening and the learner succumbed to injuries the following day,” he said.

The matter has been reported to police.

INSIDE EDUCATION

Lerato Mbhiza

A man seen pulling a 13-year-old pupil’s dreadlocks at Crowthorne Christian Academy in Midrand in a widely shared video was released on R2 000 bail on Thursday.

The 51-year-old Andries Booysen appeared in the Midrand Magistrate’s Court on a charge of assault after a widely circulated video showed the learner being forcefully removed from the classroom due to a new policy that prohibits dreadlocks. 

According to the school’s new hair policy the 13-year-old broke the school rules by having dreadlocks. The learner missed classes on Monday and Tuesday this week after she was forcefully removed from her classroom. 

A video capturing the moment, including the assault of the mother by a school official, alleged to be Booysen surfaced on social media yesterday.

The school, which the Gauteng Education Department has said had been operating illegally, has since closed its doors following the incident.

Booysen was seen in the video pushing the pupil during an argument between the school’s principal and the girl’s mother on the school premises on Monday.

The NPA’s spokesperson Phindi Mjonondwana said the case was postponed for further investigations.

“The husband of the school’s principal, who is the accused in this matter, Mr Booysen, allegedly, violently pushed the learner and her mother. He was released on R2000 bail on condition that he must refrain from communicating or interfering with state witnesses. He will be back in court on the 2nd of October.”

INSIDE EDUCATION

Johnathan Paoli

THE Minister of Higher Education and Training, Blade Nzimande, has responded to the growing problems surrounding the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (Nsfas) direct payment system, by giving the Nsfas Board until the end of August to inform him of their proposed plan in rectifying the challenges.

This follows on the growing protest action of students, as well as several scandals that have rocked the scheme and specifically its CEO Andile Nongogo, who was placed on a special leave following corruption allegations surrounding his tenure at the Services Sector Education and Training Authority (Sseta).

Students are still battling to access Nsfas funds and accusations of corruption and maladministration in the awarding of funds are flying thick and fast, but the Minister has remained steadfast in his defence of the payment system.

“Notwithstanding the current challenges, the Minister is of the view that the direct payment solution is a necessary measure to reduce instances of unauthorized access to beneficiaries’ allowances, payment of ghost students, inconsistencies and delayed payments of allowances,” the Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

The Ministry said the direct payment solution is in line with the Student Centered Model which the scheme adopted, and in the interests of transparency and claims of students being defunded, further called on Nsfas to make public the information and details of all individuals found to be defrauding the scheme.

It was further stressed that the scheme funding has increased more than five fold in the last nine years, from R5.9 billion in 2014 to R47.6 billion in 2023 for the funding of roughly 11 million students of which 49% are also SASSA beneficiaries.

There have been growing calls for Nzimande to resign over his department’s handling of the Nsfas direct payment system.

In a statement on Wednesday, the UDM called for his immediate resignation.

Earlier this year, both the EFFSC of North West as well as members of the Wits University SRC called for Nzimande’s head.

INSIDE EDUCATION

Johnathan Paoli

THE United Democratic Movement (UDM) has officially called for the resignation of the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Blade Ndzimande, following the crisis surrounding the National Student Financial Aid Scheme (NSFAS) in recent months.

UDM President, Bantu Holomisa commended the work done by the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (Outa) in investigating both Nsfas, as well as allegations of corruption and maladministration in the Services Sector Education and Training Authorities (SSETA) since 2018.

Further, the OUTA report revealed that the four companies awarded the tender to handle the direct payment system for NSFAS were not registered as financial services providers.

Ezaga Holdings – held an affiliated banking licence with Access Bank. A banking licence or affiliation with a bank with a banking licence was a compulsory bid requirement. Two of the successful bidders, Norraco Corporation and Tenet Technology, were also not registered as VAT vendors when they submitted their tenders.

Holomisa further criticised the Hawks and Special Investigating Unit’s failure to respond to a report the UDM made to them in February this year concerning the R2 million NSFAS rental scandal.

Recently NSFAS CEO, Andile Nongogo was placed on special leave following the student payment controversies surrounding investigations of the four fintech companies, as well as other forms of corruption and maladministration within the scheme.

In addition, the Portfolio Committee on Higher Education, Science and Innovation came under scrutiny for their failure to properly investigate the problems within the NSFAS, the SSETA and the Department.

Holomisa compared the NSFAS issue to the Bosasa as a source of looted money for the government and expressed concern over the recent violence at the Walter Sisulu University calling onPresident Cyril Ramaphosa to dispatch a task team immediately.

Earlier this year, the EFF Student Command (EFFSC) North West similarly called for the resignation of Nzimande, following the SIU’s report that approximately R5.1 billion in NSFAS funds were improperly spent on funding students who did not qualify for financial assistance, which was revealed during a briefing to Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts.

It was found that more than 40 000 students in 76 institutions of higher learning were funded regardless of their home income being more than R350 000 per annum.

“It is proof to our long-standing argument that there is deeply rooted maladministration and corruption in NSFAS, which prohibits the deserving students from poor backgrounds from accessing financial assistance from the scheme. This report further proves that we don’t have a competent minister in the Department of Higher Education and Training. 

“We, therefore, call upon the President to release Minister Blade Nzimande from his duties and not keep him because of the unstable relationship between ANC, Cosatu and SACP,” EFFSC provincial secretary Senzo Hlazo said.

In March this year Wits University SRC president Aphiwe Mnyamana and National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union (Nehawu) branch secretary Thabo Modise, called for the Education Minister’s resignation, for the failure to tackle the years-long issue of historic debt affecting tertiary students.

“Historic debt is a concern. Every year, we see institutions protesting. Hence as the SRC we say Blade Nzimande and Buti Manamela must resign because there is something wrong which they are doing,” Mnyamana said.

Despite the scandal and allegations, and multiple calls for his resignation, the Education Minister has come out to both chastise the violent protests as well as defend the NSFAS payment system.

“Violence will never justify or cannot be associated with any legitimate forms of protest and should be condemned by all, including student leaders,” Nzimande said.

INSIDE EDUCATION  

Staff Reporter

The higher education sector in the country is currently experiencing challenges, with protests erupting at some universities. These demonstrations, which have been characterised by violence in some instances, have raised concern about the safety of staff, students and property. As a precautionary measure and to allay these fears, the University of KwaZulu-Natal switched to online learning on Monday, 14 August.

“We understand that the root cause of these protests is discontentment regarding the NSFAS allowances. Nationwide various universities have been affected, and there are indications that these protests will continue. This has necessitated the decision to switch to online leaming,” said Professor Sandile Phinda Songca, Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching.

This means that besides academic activities that necessitate in-person engagement, such as practicals and clinics, all other teaching and leaming endeavours will transition to an emergency remote mode.

Songca said that to facilitate this transition, UKZN has already commenced the provision of data to both staff and students. “While this move might be seen as regrettable, it will attest to our agility and rapid response to disruptions to keep people safe while assuring the continuity and quality of the academic project,” Songca said.

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