An Inanda school teacher, charged with misconduct after allegations of sexual harassment by seven pupils, has been found not guilty and cleared.
The teacher, identified only as “Mr SE Mkhize”, pleaded not guilty to all the charges, which Education Labour Relations Council arbitrator Prathima Jairajh found could not be proved.
Mkhize, a teacher at Makhapha Combined School in Maphephetheni, Inanda, in KwaZulu-Natal, was charged with misconduct by the provincial department of education in 2024.
In the first of several charges against him, Mkhize was accused of calling Learner A to the front of the class and hugging and kissing her.
In the second he was accused of asking Learner B to have sex with him before giving her R5.
He was alleged to have asked Learner C to be in a relationship with him and given her R5. He was also alleged to have asked learners D, E and F if they knew how to have sex, and allegedly told Learner G she was so beautiful he lost his ability to speak when he saw her.
After Mkhize was charged, the matter was referred to the ELRC for arbitration. The education department called only one witness to testify against Mkhize.
Learner A said she had been in grade 7 in 2024, and Mkhize was one of her teachers. She said learners B, C, D, E, F and G were her classmates. Sometime during the year, she had approached the school principal and a female teacher and reported to them that Mkhize had tried to kiss her in front of other pupils and then hugged her.
She told them Mkhize, after kissing her, had asked her to go to the staff room and warm his food. While she was there, she said Mkhize had arrived with a man identified only as “Mr Shezi”. She claimed Shezi had also demanded a kiss from her.
Learner A further testified that Mkhize had closed the door and said, “You will not exit, without giving me a kiss,” adding to his friend, “Yes, my brother, she must be kissed before she leaves.”
She claimed Mkhize had then given her R5 to silence her.
In another incident, she said she had been with her friend, Learner ZM, in the bathroom when Mkhize called them to an empty classroom.
ZM went alone to the classroom and returned crying, saying Mkhize had told her he wanted to be in a relationship with her. She said she had not accompanied ZM, because she had been afraid that Mkhize might close the door like he had done in the staff room.
Having regard for the totality of the evidence, I find that the employer has failed to prove its case on a balance of probabilities that Mr Mkhize had committed an act of sexual misconduct or assault against the learners at his school.
— Arbitrator Prathima Jairajh
When questioned about the details of the incident in which Mkhize had allegedly kissed her in front of the class, Learner A said she couldn’t recall what had happened but confirmed she had reported the matter.
She said she only later told her stepmother what had happened, as her father had received a letter asking that a parent report to the school with Learner A.
Under cross-examination, Learner A said though she lived with her father and step-mother she had recently gone to stay with her aunt after a misunderstanding. She denied that this had anything to do with accusations of her dishonesty.
When it was put to her that she had not voluntarily reported the matter to the principal but had instead been called into the office and coerced to make accusations against Mkhize, she said she was confused and could not remember this because she was very young.
She said she had been reluctant to report the matter because the previous year, she had been a troublesome pupil at the school and did not want to be accused of this again. However, she stuck to her version that Mkhize had told her he wanted to be in a relationship with her.
When asked why she had not informed her parents of what had happened on the day of the incident, Learner A said she thought they would judge her, and her father already believed she was troublesome.
Mkhize told the hearing that he is a married man with a wife and child. While he knew Learner A, he denied ever trying to kiss and hug her in front of the class. He said he was fond of her and knew she had once run away from home and stayed with a friend for a long period.
Mkhize said he believed the school principal had orchestrated the charges against him. This was because they did not see eye-to-eye with respect to political factions and did not get on well.
He believed Learner A had been coached to make false allegations against him, as the claims had come at a time when promotional posts were being advertised, at the same time as his name was being ruined.
Mkhize said he had been in a past relationship with the school’s deputy principal and that they had had a son together, who was now an adult. Mkhize said he felt she might also have a grudge against him as he had married his current wife in 2022 at a time when the deputy principal had wanted to marry him.
Under cross-examination, Mkhize said he knew Learner A did not stay with her biological mother and was also aware of a conflict with her stepmother.
He believed the pupils who had made the sexual misconduct claims against him had all been instructed to lie. He said Shezi had not told Learner A he wanted to kiss her, and he would have protected the child had this happened.
Mkhize’s representative pointed out that no other witnesses were willing to testify because they felt intimidated.
This prompted Jairajh to find that the charges against Mkhize had not been proven, and that there was no tangible and admissible evidence to sustain a conviction for the alleged misconduct.
No evidence was presented by Learners B, C, D,E, F or G, so no finding relating to their allegations could be made.
Learner A had accused Mkhize of kissing her in front of the class, but had later said she could not remember this happening. Her story relating to the closing of the staff room door had also changed.
“Having regard for the totality of the evidence, I find that the employer has failed to prove its case on a balance of probabilities that Mr Mkhize had committed an act of sexual misconduct or assault against the learners at his school. Accordingly, I find Mr Mkhize not guilty of the charge levelled against him,” Jairajh said.
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