POLICE from the Operational Support Services Unit (OSSU) had to be called in to restore order and rescue four teachers at Sikhunyane High.
This is after angry parents pounced and threatened them over allegations of inappropriate sexual relationships with learners.
The four educators, three men and one woman, are accused of engaging in inappropriate sexual relationships with learners. The female teacher is alleged to have had relationships with boys at the school.
Tensions exploded following the sudden death of the Headteacher Justice Makhanya.
The late headteacher had recently reported the four teachers to the Hhohho Regional Education Office (REO) over alleged breaches of professional ethics.
Sources said Makhanya complained of a splitting headache last Monday and was taken to hospital, where he was admitted. He reportedly died the following day.
According to sources, Makhanya had escalated the allegations against the teachers to the Ministry of Education and Training Under Secretary-Schools Manager Lungelo Nhlengetfwa. The schools manager is said to have written to the teachers, requesting them to show cause why they should not face disciplinary charges over the allegations.
However, sources alleged that after being reported to the ministry, the teachers made threats against Makhanya.
The alleged threats reportedly reached the ears of parents whose children attend the school as well as the headteacher’s family.
“This infuriated not only the parents who supported him in getting the educators to answer for their reported behaviour, but Makhanya’s family too,” said a source.
The tensions reportedly reached a point where no teachers, pupils, parents, or ministry representatives attended Makhanya’s funeral on Sunday.
Sources revealed that last Thursday, some parents approached Etfuntini Umphakatsi under the leadership of Chief Ndlaluhlaza Ndwandwe and declared that they did not want the four teachers at the school.
The situation escalated yesterday when officials from the Hhohho REO visited the school to engage the teachers and the aggrieved parents.
“The parents were so furious that they said if the teachers did not leave, they would kill them,” claimed a source.
The source added that the situation was so tense that the police from the OSSU had to be called in to restore order. The REO officials subsequently left the school with the four teachers in what sources described as a move to protect them from the angry parents.
Hhohho Regional Education Officer Dr Nathi Nkambule confirmed that the teachers had been taken to the schools manager’s office.
Chief Police Information and Communication Officer Senior Superintendent Phindile Zwane confirmed that police were called to the school to maintain order. Regarding the allegations of inappropriate sexual relationships between the teachers and learners, Zwane said the police would work with the relevant government departments to investigate the matter and establish the facts.
The incident comes less than a week after similar allegations sparked a riot at Shewula High School. Last Monday, pupils at the Lubombo-based school reportedly rioted over allegations that two male teachers had pursued sexual relationships with female learners.
One of the teachers allegedly kept a Form II pupil at his house in the teachers’ quarters, where he reportedly had sex with her after promising to help her pass.
The second teacher is alleged to have pressured a 16-year-old Form III learner into a sexual relationship. The Shewula matter was reported to the Lubombo REO and the police.
Teacher married his former pupil
THERE are allegations that one of the four teachers who were forced out of Sikhunyane High is married to a former pupil he taught.
The now married couple is said to have a child who is suspected to have been conceived while the mother was still in school.
Sources close to the matter alleged that the former pupil completed high school last year and now has a child whose age, according to sources, indicates that he was conceived while his mother was still school-going.
This, however, remains an allegation as an investigation is ongoing. Sources said such cases were proof that the teacher-learner relationships had been a cancer at the school for a long time.
Sources said the late Headteacher Justice Makhanya had been against such conduct by his teachers so much that he ensured to report allegations of inappropriate relationships between teachers and learners to the ministry of education and training.
This, sources said, made him infamous among the alleged perpetrators.
‘We asked educators to remain home’
THE four Sikhunyane High School teachers accused of sexually violating pupils were put on ice following the chaos that erupted at the school yesterday.
This was confirmed by Ministry of Education and Training Under Secretary-Schools Manager Lungelo Nhlengetfwa.
He said while only two male teachers had previously been served with letters to show cause why they should not be charged for violating learners, he made the decision to have all four educators remain at home while the situation at the school was being monitored and their cases were being addressed by the relevant departments.
“I received a report from the Hhohho REO that parents were furious and wanted the teachers out of the school. The decision that they should remain at home was informed by the reports of chaos and death threats from the parents,” he said.
