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Witch! Racist! Madam! Just some of the insults that cost 'violent' college lecturer his job

A college lecturer was fired after sending an e-mail telling a colleague he was “not going to let her sodomise him without Vaseline”.

John Phahlane also told the woman that she behaved “like prior 1994 madams” and accused another colleague at Northern Cape Urban TVET College in Kimberley of using witchcraft and being a racist.

Phahlane failed in his appeal against dismissal to higher education minister Blade Nzimande‚ and last week a court ordered him to stay away from the college’s three campuses.

College principal Clifford Barnes told Judge Mpho Mamosebo‚ who granted an interdict against Phahlane in the High Court in Kimberley‚ that he needed to protect staff and students against the former computer science lecturer’s “violence and aggression”.

Granting the interdict‚ Mamosebo said: “It (took) the intervention of the SAPS on two occasions to remove (Phahlane) from the college premises.”

Barnes told the court Phahlane’s confrontational behaviour was exacerbated by the fact that some students failed a subject because he did not mark their scripts.

Mamosebo said the lecturer’s conduct had a negative impact on the college. “Adults need to inspire learners with positive attributes and good leadership qualities‚” she said.

Phahlane started work at the college in 2012. He ignored a letter in August 2015 warning him not to wear an ANC T-shirt to work and was given a letter of suspension the following month. He refused to leave until the police were called.

He was fired after being found guilty of eight charges‚ including insubordination and bringing the college into disrepute.

The interdict also bans him from “threatening‚ assaulting‚ intimidating and/or contacting” Barnes and seven other college staff members.

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