SOWETAN SAYS | Protect our children, make sex pest register public

The nation is going through deep pain over the rape of a seven-year-old Eastern Cape pupil at her school. This week, the outrage spilt onto the streets as people in different parts of the country rightfully demanded justice for "Cwecwe", as the schoolgirl has come to be known to the public.

The reality is that what happened to Cwecwe – being sexually assaulted at school – has been going on for a long time. Yesterday, the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) opened up to Sowetan regarding the rising trend in cases of sexual abuse or harassment of children by educators.

The council’s revelation that from April 1 2024 to 31 March, 111 cases of sexual harassment or abuse involving educators were referred to them is worrisome. It offers little comfort that of these offending teachers, only 39 were found guilty. In the majority of cases, the implicated teachers walked because there was not enough evidence against them.

This fact alone points to the extent of the crisis of sex crimes against children, how – beyond the physical harm – they’re robbed of their innocence. For many children, at the time they are sexually assaulted or harassed, they have not developed the vocabulary to clearly explain what happened to them for criminal cases to be built against their tormentors. Some are numbed by the idea of speaking up against figures of authority, leading to cases collapsing. 

However, the ELRC data is not revealing anything new about the sexual misconduct of teachers, including those who initiated relationships with learners.

For more than a decade, the nation has been fed these horrifying statistics about sex crimes by teachers. The issue, to a large extent, contributed to the passing of the National Register for Sex Offenders Act in 2007. The register is meant to record the names of those found guilty of sexual offences against children and mentally disabled people to prevent the offenders from being employed in schools, crèches, hospitals and care homes.

Unfortunately, delays in making the register accessible to the public have afforded sex-pest teachers a chance to continue with their crimes. The state must now act swiftly to remove any remaining stumbling blocks for the register to begin to be effective.

The community at large also has a role to play, which is to report suspicious behaviour against children and to believe what children say happened to them. We also need to teach children how to identify untoward behaviour of any type against them and assure them that they will be believed.