This came after a parent of two learners at the Northern Cape school lodged an application for an urgent interdict.

Jaco Deacon, Deputy CEO of the Federation of Governing Bodies of South African Schools (Fedsas), says the sexual misconduct related to the pregnancy of a learner at Hoërskool Kakamas in 2007. The Department of Education dismissed the teacher as a result.

Deacon says the man is not fit to be headmaster at any school. “The important thing in this matter is the best interest of the children. Is it in the best interest of the children to have someone who has been convicted of a sexual offence to be the school principal at the school, and our argument is simply that it’s not in the best interest of the child and the court agreed with us.”

“The principal was dismissed a few years ago for sexual offences in the same community, and therefore that principal is not fit to work in that school community. He was convicted and was eventually dismissed by the provincial department. And now it’s the same provincial department that has reappointed that person in the position of a principal at the same school”.

The case was postponed until March 23.

Deacon says the interdict prevents the new principal from entering the school terrain. He says the school currently has an acting principal to ensure teaching and learning continues.

Katleho Morapela/OFM News