Riot Hlatshwayo

Riot Hlatshwayo

Teachers having sex with their pupils is a great cause for concern for parents in a rural village in Mpumalanga.

Recently, a pupil was allegedly forced to have an abortion after her teacher impregnated her.

Soshangana High School at Buyisonto village near Thulamahashe was named after King Soshangana Nxumalo, a descendant of the famous Shangaan king Nghunghunyana.

The school is embroiled in a sex scandal. Soshangana's learner representative council wants the principal, Duzephi Sibuyi, to come clean on the matter.

The council's deputy president, S'thembiso Machavi, said: "It is a fact that more than ten teachers are having affairs with female pupils in this school.

"We have reported the matter to the principal, but nothing has been done so far," he said.

Sibuyi said he did not have the authority to speak to the media because the school fell under the provincial education department.

"The school falls under the education department and only its spokesman can speak about matters relating to the school," said Sibuyi.

"I'm just not at liberty to speak to you," he said.

Olinah Nyambose, a parent, said that a number of parents have complained that teachers and pupils were having sex.

"One teacher is in love with a 15-year-old girl who lives with her mother about five houses from here. He has the guts to take her to his place and bring her home the next morning," said Nyambose.

She said the girl's mother did not mind because the teacher gives her groceries every month.

Mpumalanga education department spokesman Hlahla Ngwenya referred Sowetan to departmental head Raymond Tywakadi, who was not available for comment.