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South Africa: 'More Care is Needed' When Hiring Teachers
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Business Day (Johannesburg)
27 March 2008
Posted to the web 27 March 2008
Sue Blaine
Johannesburg
WESTERN Cape education MEC Cameron Dugmore called yesterday on the Public Service Commission to investigate appointment procedures for teachers and other school staff.
The call came after the discovery that a teacher convicted of attempted rape was appointed on contract at a school in Villiersdorp. He then raped a fellow teacher at the school.
Dugmore asked that the Western Cape Public Service Commission give advice on measures to ensure no one who posed a risk to pupils or teachers could be appointed at any educational institution, said his spokesman, Gert Witbooi.
William Zass was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment for the rape, which he committed on the last day of his contract at the Villiersdorp Secondary School on June 30 2004.
Zass had been appointed on contract to the school in February 2003 while on parole after having been convicted of attempted rape in 2002 and sentenced to three years' imprisonment, said Witbooi.
Zass applied for an extension of his contract, but when the Western Cape education department learnt of his rape charge (of this separate incident), his application was denied. Last month he was sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment for the rape.
"I am deeply disturbed at what happened at Villiersdorp Secondary School. We must ensure that such an incident will never be repeated ," said Dugmore.
Dugmore was concerned about all school staff. This month a caretaker was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment for raping a seven-year-old girl from the Parow East Primary School, said Witbooi.
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Dugmore is waiting for two reports -- one from the Western Cape education department on how Zass came to be appointed to the Villiersdorp school, and whether the school governing body or department officials knew of his earlier sentence and parole.
The second legal opinion was on the conduct of the Parow East Primary School principal, who admitted during court proceedings that the caretaker rapist had worked at his (the principal's) home, Witbooi said.
Teachers convicted of crimes lo st their registration with the South African Council for Educators (Sace), without which they could not teach, said Sace director Muavia Gallie.
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