‘Assault’ teacher given boot

The assistant teacher alleged to have severely assaulted a Grade 5 pupil at Burgher Right Primary School in Pretoria West “will never set foot on the school premises again”.

This was the message from the chairman of the school governing body (SGB), Solomon Mathibela, yesterday.

Mathibela said the school and the SGB were saddened by the incident where 11-year-old Amagolo Tefu was allegedly beaten with a wooden plank for coming late to class. Amagolo was left with bad bruises to his upper legs and backside. The implicated teacher, Christian de Wit, was arrested and charged with assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm. He appeared in court on Thursday.

He is expected to appear in court again on June 14. Mathibela said as a school they didn’t condone corporal punishment and they had cut all ties with De Wit. “We adhere to all government rules that prohibit the administering of corporal punishment. We are sorry about this and it will never happen again; we will make sure of that,” said Mathibela.

De Wit, who is not a fully qualified teacher but a student doing his practicals, was suspended immediately after the Pretoria News report and has now reportedly been informed that his services will no longer be required at the school.

Mathibela said parents should not panic and assured them that this was a once-off incident which they had dealt with accordingly.

He maintained that although De Wit did not have qualifications, he wasn’t allowed to be in a classroom alone except on that day. “We only used his services when our teachers were on sick leave. He was doing his practicals at the school and he was always monitored by a head of department. During his hearing he admitted to us that he administered corporal punishment and he regretted everything that happened,” said Mathibela.

Mathibela said they would like to apologise to Amagolo’s mother, Ellen Masiya, and assure her that her child would not be victimised and would continue getting the best education.

Although the incident had tarnished the school’s image, they wanted to tell all parents that everything would be back to normal.

“We will go out of our way to ensure that such a thing never happens again. I will personally make it a point that parents are informed of what is going on and we will have to relook our constitution,” he said.

But members of the SGB are having sleepless nights now as they have been slapped with a R100 000 lawsuit by the boy’s family.

“We are not a rich school; we don’t know where we will get that kind of money. Pupils recently asked me how I was going to pay the amount. They asked if I would have to sell my house or car,” exclaimed Mathibela.

He said they would have to consult their lawyers to see what they could do. He said the mother would have to justify how she got to that amount.

“We are not saying that the mother should not have sued us, but we don’t know where we are going to get that money. I still believe that this matter can be discussed and a solution found or that we can reach an out-of-court settlement, but that will all depend on both parties,” said Mathibela.

Masiya said she was surprised that the school and SGB would like to reach an out-of-court settlement but they were yet to contact her. “I find it strange that they approach the media first to announce that, instead of contacting me.

“They have my contact details and I drop off my child at the school every day; why not approach me?” she asked. Masiya said she would wait for them to contact her and she would then discuss everything with her attorneys.

The News yesterday contacted De Wit, but every time the reporter introduced himself, he would hang up. - Karaba Seanego