• A Kagiso Secondary School educator has been dismissed for misconduct after he tried to pursue a sexual relationship with a learner
• The teacher's predatory behaviour had been brewing for a few years until two learners reportedly mustered the courage to report him
• South Africans were vocal on social media and aired polarising views on the latest in a plethora of school sexual harassment incidents

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KRUGERSDORP - An educator in Kagiso on Gauteng's West Rand has been shown the door for misconduct after being found guilty of attempting to have a sexual relationship with several learners.

The disciplinary hearing for the Kagiso Secondary School teacher was concluded on Monday by the national and provincial bargaining committee for public education, the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC).

News24 reported that Itumeleng Selokela was charged with six counts of misconduct. He was temporarily suspended after two learners complained in May 2021. In one incident, he had asked a pupil to send him pictures of herself and attempt to go to a hotel with him to have sex.

Sometime before that, Selokela was accused of asking a pupil if she'd had sex with another male and then insisted that she give herself up to him, too. Also in 2019, the educator approached another learner and complimented her for having a "nice body". He then asked her for nude pictures.

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Promised learner would pass

Several other incidents followed, including one in which grabbed the latter pupil to try to kiss her and promised her she would make it through Grade 11 if she agreed to have sex with him.

Briefly News understands he pleaded guilty to the six charges against him at the hearing. Despite this, he asserted that his suspension was an unfair practice. His claim was rubbished by the ELRC, which disregarded it as baseless.

The former teacher's dismissal at the hearing means he will be reported to the South African Council of Educators (SACE), whose function is to register fit to practise educators, among others, and maintain the profession's professional teaching and ethical standards.

Another teacher dismissed

In 2021, the council cited that 11 educators were removed from the register of practising teachers for various sexual misconduct or assault complaints against them.

Meanwhile, TimesLIVE reported that an educator at Dinare Secondary School in QwaQwa, Free State, was fired after he was found guilty of having a sexual relationship with a 22-year-old learner.

Moshe Mofokeng vehemently denied the charges but the ELRC, in its ruling, found that several encounters occurred at Mofokeng's home before the learner and her parents reported the matter to the school's principal.

Locals debate subject matter

South Africans once again lamented the degree to which sexual misconduct and harassment are rife at schools across the country. Others went in the direction of blaming female learners for "dressing inappropriately."

Briefly News takes a look at some of the loudest reactions below.

@Masgee Masgee wrote:

"Girl learners should practice dressing decently. What do you expect male teachers to do when your kids are wearing very short uniforms revealing their clitoris?"

@McIntosh Ngwenya said:

"'A man who can discipline his sexual desire has solved half of his problems'. Buddhist saying."

@Sithembile Sterra Mdingane added:

"Mnxim too much pervert in this country' we need to accept that, more special when you come school girls there way they dress their uniforms."

Learner and parents arrested for assaulting teacher

Elsewhere, Briefly News previously reported that a female learner and her parents are in police custody for allegedly assaulting a Grade 11 educator at the Setjhaba Se Maketse Combined School in Botshabelo, Free State, on Thursday, 3 February.

The trio reportedly attacked the teacher after the learner mysteriously crumpled to the ground outside the classroom. Her parents were notified of the incident and made their way to the school.

SAPS spokesperson Lieutenant Colonel Thabo Covane said the learner and her parents hurled insults at the teacher and beat him up once he made his way out of the classroom, News24 reported.