Court denies Limpopo principal's appeal over mishandled sexual abuse case

A former Limpopo school principal failed in his legal bid to get his job back after he was fired by the Education Department for failing to submit a report after a Grade 2 learner was reportedly raped or sexually abused by other learners, and allegedly attempting to bribe the learner's guardian to prevent further action.

Jack Machengwana turned to the Johannesburg Labour Court to review and set aside his dismissal by a commissioner on arbitration.

Although the learner insisted that she fell prey to fellow learners, Machengwana claimed the incident never happened. He reasoned it would have been impossible, as the alleged culprits were small children and “incapable” of rape or sexual abuse.

Machengwana lost his job following the incident when a 7-year-old learner complained that she was sexually assaulted by some boys of the same age, who were also at the same school.

After being made aware of the incident by the deputy principal, the applicant met with the school governing body (SGB) and the school leadership to discuss the incident. 

A decision was made to report the incident to the circuit manager, but he could not be located. He then went to the child’s home, where he spoke to her guardian. 

According to the applicant, he expressed his view about the fact that the child was staying in a shack. He said he suggested that he would take up the matter with the SGB to raise money to build a house for the child. If that failed, he promised to build a three-room house for them himself.

The department, however, submitted that he tried to bribe the guardian and child not to report the sexual assault, since on a later date, he gave the child money in a bid to keep her quiet. All these allegations were vehemently denied by the applicant. 

He also said that he did submit a handwritten report to the department regarding the incident, but he was told that it had to be in a typed form. There is a dispute about whether he eventually submitted the typed report as instructed.

The version of the guardian is that the applicant, in the presence of the chairperson of the SGB, threatened her, alleging that there was no case of sexual assault of the girl and that he would urge the police not to open a case.

The guardian further alleged that the child was given R500 and a pizza to discourage her from taking matters further. The applicant said he gave her R350 but never bought her pizza. 

In turning down his application, the Labour Court said the applicant failed to provide evidence to refute the allegations against him.  

His argument that no crime was committed because, in terms of South African law, children under the age of seven lack criminal capacity must also be rejected, the court said.

It pointed out that as the school principal, he is the guardian for the learners. Bribing his way out of serious misconduct to keep an image of the school and himself makes him unfit to be principal, the judge said.

Cape Times