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South Africa: Rapist Teacher Sparks Vetting Probe
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Cape Argus (Cape Town)
27 March 2008
Posted to the web 27 March 2008
Lavern de Vries
Cape Town
The Western Cape education department is investigating the hiring of a teacher who had been convicted of attempted rape and who later raped a colleague.
On Wednesday, Education MEC Cameron Dugmore approached the Public Service Commission (PSC) to investigate appointment procedures for teachers and non-academic staff at schools and to advise on measures to ensure that those appointed did not pose a risk to pupils and teachers.
The department is now embroiled in an investigation to determine how a convicted criminal was hired on a contract basis to teach at a school in Villiersdorp.
The man, William Zass, was found guilty of attempted rape in 2002 and sentenced to three years' imprisonment. After eight months he was released on parole.
In February 2003 he was appointed on contract at the Villiersdorp Secondary School and on June 30, 2004, he raped a colleague.
The incident took place on the day that his contract came to an end.
Last month, he received a 10-year jail sentence for the rape.
Education spokesperson Gert Witbooi explained on Wednesday that although all teaching staff members were screened to ensure that they had the basic teaching qualifications and that they were registered with the South African Council of Educators, the onus was on the WCED to determine whether a teacher was fit to be employed.
"In this incident it could have been departmental officials who were negligent in the screening process and if this is the case, the MEC would want to take action," Witbooi said.
He added that the screening process was currently a form that needed to be completed by candidates, conceding that there were no control measures to ascertain whether a candidate was lying.
"This is why we have asked the PSC to investigate and if need be, we would have to rope in other government departments to help verify candidates' qualifications and merits."
The probe into the screening process comes after several instances of rape have been reported at schools, the most recent one involving the rape of a seven-year-old girl by a school caretaker.
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Earlier this month, Bramwell Daniels was convicted of raping the Parow East Primary School pupil and sentenced to life imprisonment.
Witbooi said the department was waiting for legal advice to decide whether they had grounds to act against the school's principal, Jan du Plessis.
Du Plessis had admitted that Daniels had visited his house when he was on the run from police. Du Plessis had not informed the police of this fact.
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