Kimberley – A 14-year-old Kimberley girl is 28 weeks’ pregnant after she was allegedly raped on several occasions by her primary schoolteacher.

The girl’s parents confirmed that they had opened a case of statutory rape against the Grade 7 teacher from a Colville primary school.

Sydney Stander, spokesman for the Northern Cape Department of Education, on Thursday said that the department was aware of the incident and has placed the teacher on suspension to allow for a full investigation to establish the extent of the problem.

He added that the department viewed this type of conduct in a very serious light as it not only amounted to the abuse of authority and the trust children have in teachers, but also undermined the integrity of the teaching profession.

“We are happy that the parents have registered a criminal case and we hope the law will take its course. We also want to apologise to the parents of the learner for the unethical conduct of the practitioner.

“Our schools are supposed to be centres of excellence that harness and protect every child and offer hope for a better future,” Stander concluded.

The principal of the school also confirmed that the teacher had been suspended.

The distraught parents of the child on Thursday told the DFA how their (then) 13-year-old daughter was a victim of intimidation, physical and psychological abuse as well as sexual assault by the teacher since March 2012.

They said they only found out their daughter was expecting in November last year, when she was already 18 weeks’ pregnant.

It was only then that the child told her parents of the months of abuse she allegedly had to endure while in the teacher’s register class.

In a statement to the police, the child recalled how the teacher took a special interest in her and singled her out to stay after class and do favours for him.

When they approached the school to report the matter, the accused apparently admitted to having sexual intercourse with the child and suggested that she go for an abortion. He apparently offered to cover the costs involved.

It also emerged that he reportedly tried to bribe the child, saying he would give her money if she did not tell anyone that he was involved, after he found out she was pregnant. The child also had to endure threats of failing her grade if she reported him.

The parents of the learner, who this week started grade 8, said their child’s innocence had been stolen and her whole life ruined.

“She was a good student and we had lots of hope that she would make a success of her future, but now that future looks bleak. She has been extremely traumatised by these events and even tried to commit suicide. Community members have started to turn their backs on us and we don’t know how we will take care of the baby financially.

“We have lost faith in the Department of Education, an institution that we entrust our children to on a daily basis. How is it possible that children in classrooms get exposed to sexual predators like this,” her parents asked.

While they praised the principal of the school for her quick and decisive action once the matter was brought to her attention, they added that they believed that other teachers knew what was happening and did nothing.

Naomi Dube, from Kimberley Childline, on Thursday lashed out at the Department of Education, saying that they were supposed to be the custodians of children but were failing learners who were entrusted in their care.

She said the department had become an embarrassment, especially in situations where fellow teachers knew about sexual abuse but chose to look the other way or took the side of offenders.

Dube also said that allowing teachers accused of rape to continue teaching was an absolute violation of the rights of children.

Dube was referring to Tebogo Vernon Steward, a teacher from Sol Plaatje Primary School, who stands accused of raping a 16-year-old learner in April last year but still continues to teach at the school.

Steward will appear in the Kimberley Magistrate’s Court next week.

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Durban – Education MEC Senzo Mchunu told two schoolboys on Thursday that they had better quit smoking whoonga and dagga or they could forget about ever attending a public school in the province.

Mchunu read the riot act to the two pupils, aged 15 and 19, during a visit to a school in Mlazi on Thursday, and said regular blood tests would be done on the teenagers for six months and they would be expelled if traces of drugs were found.

Swelihle Secondary had refused to enrol the two pupils because of behavioural problems, and they had come to the school with their desperate parents on Thursday when the MEC intervened.

The teenagers had admitted to using the drugs.

Mchunu’s visit was part of a three-day programme which has involved officials and other MECs paying surprise visits to schools across the province to see how they were functioning at the start of the new school year.

Mchunu said the pupils, who have absconded three times during exams, must be given a final chance and allowed to enrol.

He said the department’s special needs education service, which deals with social ills, would work to get the pupils back on track with the help of school principal Dumisile Bulose.

“I am putting them under monitoring and they will be tested for drugs on a regular basis. Whether you smoke at night, if it is in your blood, we will be able to detect it. This is your last chance… If we find it in your blood, you will be expelled and you will never be enrolled at another school in KZN,” said Mchunu.

“You boys are still very young and you can still pass and contribute to the country. If the department, the school and your parents give up on you, you will be nothing. You are going nowhere because drugs are taking you two nowhere,” he told them.

He urged the school to provisionally accept the pupils on condition they agree to be helped to stop taking drugs.

“These provisional acceptance forms must be signed by the parents for the process of helping these pupils to begin,” said Mchunu.

Psychologists were expected to visit the school on Friday to counsel the pupils.

Mchunu was not pleased with the school’s matric pass rate of 51 percent.

“This is a fail. I am not insulting you, but it’s a fact,” he told the principal.

Turning to the school’s new Grade 12 pupils, he said: “You must study hard because there is no miracle in matric that will help you pass. Forget about whoonga.”

At Lindelani Senior Primary, also in Mlazi, Mchunu was not satisfied with the maintenance of the school.

For more details go to http://www.iol.co.za

By Obakeng Maje

Gaborone-“The North West Provincial Government and Afcon Local Organising Committee’s drive to rally support in Botswana for Rustenburg games has been met with enthusiasm by the people and the media of Gaborone” Vusi Kama said. 

In partnership with the Botswana Post Office, the Local Organising Committee team has seen queues stretching during the Thursday and Friday campaign in the capital city.  

Local electronic media houses such as Botswana TV, Duma FM, Yarona Fm and Gabs FM have all been on board in the promotions, with the local newspaper, Weekend Post, also taking a keen interest. 

“Most of the ticket sales are happening at the city’s Rail Park Mall, with two sales stations set up. Plans are afoot to run a similar campaign after the first games in Rustenburg, from January 23” he adds. 

Further ticket sales will be done through the Post Offices in Gaborone. 

The Department’s MEC, Ms Tebogo Modise, says her department seeks to intensify the campaign in Botswana, and make the tournament a truly African extravaganza. 

The contact person for ticket sales in Botswana is Jerry Mooketsane. He is on (0267) 71 660490.

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Cape Town – Western Cape ANC leader Marius Fransman has put forward an ambitious plan to win back the province from the DA next year, but he has admitted it won’t be easy.

“It will be a very difficult exercise, but very possible,” Fransman told the Cape Argus this week.

He said the party was “ready to take on the DA” and “preparing to govern in 2014”.

Over the next few months, the party will up its membership in the province by at least 12 000, Fransman said.

“We will be opening up the ANC in the province. We have 38 000 members in the Western Cape currently. We want to up that to at least 50 000 this year,” he said.

“No one in leadership positions in the ANC in this province must feel comfortable. All MPs, members of the legislature and councillors will have to show how they are recruiting new members.”

ANC membership in the Western Cape fell from 43 000 in 2011 to 38 000 before the Mangaung conference in December.

Fransman said the ANC’s plan to reclaim the Western Cape was explained in a party document titled “The Peoples Path to Power”.

He said the strategy was based on five key pillars:

– Organisational renewal.

– Re-connecting with communities and civil society.

– Offering alternative governance.

– Ensuring economic transformation.

– Strengthening local governance.

Fransman said the party in the Western Cape was “more united than ever” post Mangaung.

“Yes, there were divisions before Mangaung about leadership preferences. But that’s behind us and we’re working as a united front to win back this province in 2014,” he said.

Fransman said he was convinced that the DA would lose next year’s election “purely on the way they are governing” the Western Cape.

“The DA is engaged in politics of deception,” he said.

“They have a brilliant PR machine and are governing this province using spin-doctor tactics.

“With the ‘Save our Schools’ campaign we’ve demystified their politics of deception and have exposed the DA and the Education MEC (Donald Grant) for who and what they actually are.

“They don’t care about the poorest of the poor, which make up the biggest voting block in this province.

“We’ve worked with those communities. The school campaign has been the most visible example of our commitment to the poor.”

For more details go to http://www.iol.co.za

Fransman said economic transformation would be one of the ANC’s key focus areas “when we take over”.