Department out to teach two principals a lesson

A Gauteng school principal has been suspended over allegations of racism at her school, while another is to face disciplinary action and criminal charges for mismanaging an excursion where two pupils drowned.

The provincial department of education announced yesterday the principal of Pretoria High School for Girls, Phillipa Erasmus, had been suspended following allegations some of her pupils created a “whites only” WhatsApp group where they shared insensitive messages with racial undertones.

Twelve pupils at the school were suspended last week.

According to the department, the incident was reported to Erasmus last year, but she did not act on it. The department said other teachers were under investigation and will report to the district office. 

Education MEC Matome Chiloane said during a press briefing at the school yesterday that racism will not be tolerated. “Racism will not be tolerated, and we will deal with it decisively. I don't want to come back here to deal with racism ever again. I want to come here to celebrate 100% pass rate achievements,” he said. 

The MEC also went to Daveyton Skills School in Ekurhuleni, where he revealed the report on the investigation into the deaths of Siphamandla Peterson, 15, and Sibusiso Sibiya, 27, who drowned while attending a discipline camp at Rock Falls Ranch Adventure in Centurion in April. The camp was held by NGO Rising Stars Generation in Hennops River. 

According to the report, there were about 19 facilitators from Rising Stars while the school had only allowed a social worker to accompany the pupilis, who were more than 90.

Chiloane said this was in contravention of the government school tour policy, which says there should be one male teacher to 20 male pupils and one female teacher to 20 female pupils. he said the school did not apply to the department for the trip as it is required by regulations. “I believe that if the school had just followed that check list, we wouldn’t be here.

“We, as the department ... we have done our part. The principal [Thembi Letsoalo] was supposed to follow the policy and clearly, she did not. There is a criminal investigation carried out by the police since the parents have opened a case against the principal.”

Thembekile Graham, the lead investigator from Seanego Attorneys, the law firm hired by the department, said: “The principal had instructed that only the social worker would accompany the pupils and supervise them during the camp. There were no teachers that were invited to accompany the pupils.”

She said the school was also not invited to take part in the camp. It was Letsoalo who reached out to the camp owners but failed to ensure the camp was conducive for the safety of pupils.

Graham said the social worker was allegedly in the restroom when she heard commotion during the drowning of the two boys. In her defence for not complying with school policy, Letsoalo claimed to not have known about the regulations, she said.

“We find these concerning, especially when there were two occasions whereby the department emphasised the importance of complying with the regulations – [including] making a formal application three months prior to the trip – and this was through the internal memo on January 28, addressed to all public schools' principals including the principal of this school,” said Graham. 

“We can confirm that the [school] was included in the list of recipients on January 30. The memo is clear ... it urges all schools to obtain departmental approval for a trip through an application to the district director at least three months prior to the departure date of the tour.”

Graham recommended disciplinary action be taken against Letsoalo, and the department to consider revoking Rising Stars' registration.