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A teacher in Limpopo has lost his challenge against a three-month suspension without pay after an Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) arbitration found, on a balance of probabilities, that he had assaulted a pupil with a fist after the child had failed to complete his homework.
The provincial department of education imposed the sanction on Ronny Masela, from August 1 to October 31, after finding him guilty, during a disciplinary inquiry, of assaulting a pupil at Elandskraal Primary School, in Marble Hall, in April 2024.
Dissatisfied with this decision, Masela challenged the substantive fairness of the suspension and sought the suspension to be set aside by the ELRC.
The department submitted that the sanction was fair as the misconduct was proved and corroborated by witnesses.
In his award on Tuesday, arbitrator Seretse Masete dismissed the teacher’s case and found that the suspension was both procedurally and substantively fair.
During arbitration, Masela denied assaulting or physically punishing the pupil.
“He testified that on the day in question he checked learners’ homework and instructed those who had not completed it to stand in front while he warned them. He maintained that the learner was never injured or assaulted by him,” Masete said in summarising Masela’s evidence.
Masela also alleged that the pupil’s mother was attempting to extort money from him and had threatened to report him to the media, mobilise the community against him and cause him to lose his employment.
He testified that he paid her R700 on August 30 2024 under duress, but said this was not an admission that he had assaulted the pupil.
Masela disputed the medical and photographic evidence presented by the department and questioned whether the injury shown in the photographs was suffered by the pupil as a result of an assault by him.
The department called six witnesses, including the school principal, two pupils and the injured pupil’s mother.
The injured pupil testified that Masela hit him with a fist between the eyes after he failed to complete his homework. He said he experienced pain and bleeding and later suffered headaches. Another pupil corroborated the injured pupil’s account.
The injured pupil’s mother told the arbitration hearing that her son returned home with a wound on his face and reported that the teacher had assaulted him because he had failed to complete his homework. The mother said she eventually took her son to hospital after she believed the teacher had failed to fulfil an undertaking to assist with his medical treatment.
She stated that the teacher later sent two teachers to her home to apologise and indicated that he would assist with the medical expenses. She testified that Masela subsequently paid R700 towards the medical expenses.
In his award, Masete said the evidence had to be assessed holistically, rather than witness by witness in isolation.
He said the probabilities favoured the department because there was the direct evidence of the injured pupil that the teacher hit him, corroboration by another pupil, the immediate report by the pupil to his mother, the physical injury observed by the mother, the medical treatment and removal of a foreign object from the injury and the teacher’s subsequent involvement with the family.
The arbitrator also said there was evidence that the teacher paid the medical expenses, and the mother’s evidence, which was not challenged, that the teacher acknowledged the assault during their initial meeting.
The arbitrator rejected the teacher’s contention that he merely instructed the pupils to stand and warned them as not reasonably probable, when measured against the totality of the evidence.
He further found Masela’s conduct constituted unlawful corporal punishment and assault of a pupil.
“The fact that the learner had failed to do his homework, or that he may have been troublesome or ill-disciplined, provides no justification for the use of physical violence.”
TimesLIVE
Ernest Mabuza
www.timeslive.co.za
