Eastern Cape teacher dismissed over affair with pupil

A teacher who was found to have engaged in a sexual relationship with a 16-year old female pupil was dismissed in an award made by the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) on Tuesday.

ELRC panelist Mbulelo Safa found that the Eastern Cape education department had proved, on a balance of probabilities, that Luthando Balan was guilty of the charges proffered against him.

The proceedings were conducted in terms of the ELRC collective agreement 3 of 2018, which provides that it is mandatory that in misconduct cases where the allegations against the teacher relate to alleged sexual misconduct with a pupil, the disciplinary hearing must be dealt with as an inquiry by the arbitrator in terms of the Labour Relations Act.

The department led the girl’s evidence. She testified that the teacher was her history teacher in 2024 when she was in grade 11 and aged 16. She said she and Balan were in a romantic relationship which started early that year until about April this year.

She testified about WhatsApp chats between her and the teacher where Balam suggested to her that since they were sexually active, she must use contraceptives.

She confirmed that her older sister, who is a student teacher, had a relationship with Balam, but she could not say if the relationship was still going on.

She disputed the teacher’s version, when it was put to her, that he only had a relationship with her older sister. The pupil said the teacher had a relationship with both of them.

She said her parents were aware of the relationship but were opposed to it. She said the parents found out about it when her sister reported it to them.

When the cellphone was checked his wife could tell that the cell number belonged to the [teacher].

—  Arbitrator

The second witness, the girl’s father, testified that one night he woke around 2am to find the front door unlocked and his daughter missing from her bed. He and his wife waited for her to return. She came home around 4am, but refused to say where she had been.

While questioning her, they took her phone and saw a message asking if she had arrived home safely.

“When the cellphone was checked his wife could tell that the cell number belonged to the [teacher],” the arbitrator said in the award.

The father then called the number, but the teacher picked up the call and immediately dropped it.

The father testified that he decided to report the events to the school principal, who said he would approach the teacher. The principal later reported that the teacher admitted to the relationship and offered to send his elders to apologise on his behalf. The teacher and his delegation of elders met the father at the school.

At the meeting the teacher again admitted to the relationship. The father advised the teacher to stop the relationship, to which he agreed. The father said he told the teacher that if the relationship started again, he would report it to the teacher’s employers.

The father said this year he discovered through messages on his daughter’s cellphone that the relationship was continuing. He said the older sister discovered the messages when she was assisting the girl with applications for university.

The teacher testified that the charge against him was false, fabricated and had no basis. Balan denied having a sexual relationship with the girl, who he knew as a pupil he taught.

Balan said he did not know why he was accused, as his relationship with the pupil was normal and no different from that with other pupils.

Balan testified that in July last year, the girl’s father came to his home thinking he was dating his daughter. Balan said the father pointed a gun at him, assaulted him and asked what he was doing with his daughters.

Balan replied he did not know what the father was talking about. Balan said because a gun was pointed at him and he feared for his life, he admitted to the relationship and apologised.

Balan said he did not open a case with the police because he felt that since the girl’s father was a policeman, he could have influenced the case to disappear.

During his evidence Balan alleged that in June this year, he was with his friends when a bakkie blocked their car. He said the father emerged from the bakkie and pointed a gun at him asking where his daughter was.

Balan denied knowing her whereabouts. The father then ordered the occupants out of the vehicle and assaulted the teacher, injuring him on the forehead.

Bleeding from the wound, his friends drove him to the police station, where he opened a case, Safa said.

On the gun incident, the arbitrator said: “This was unfortunate and the arbitration is not a relevant platform to adjudicate its correctness. The courts are.”

Safa said his findings regarding the 2024 gun incident related to whether Balan was intimidated into admitting to the relationship.

“In the evidence led there were several instances where the [teacher] admitted to the relationship without a gun being produced. I am therefore unable to conclude that the [teacher] was intimidated and admitted because he feared for his life,” Safa said.

Safa also found Balan unsuitable to work with children in terms of the Children’s Act.