Teacher up for torture

2003-07-12 22:35

Zenzele Kuhlase

Johannesburg - Teachers go on trial this week when a Mpumalanga primary school teacher accused of torturing an "unruly" pupil answers to attempted murder, abduction and assault charges.

The teacher, Zandile Nkosi, allegedly called in grown men to help beat a confession out of the 11-year-old boy she suspected of stealing her handbag.

The pupil was repeatedly dunked head-first into the Crocodile River. Molten plastic was systematically dripped all over his bare body and genitals. He was also repeatedly burnt with cigarettes.

Shocked nurses who treated him said the boy is so badly injured he may never be able to father a child.

Today the boy, now 13, carries both physical and psychological scars from the incident. He has been moved to a new school, but his principal says the teenager is unusually subdued and even his closest friends say he seldom smiles.

The boy, who may not be named in terms of South African law, has nightmares, wets his bed and shies away from strangers.

Mpumalanga's education department hauled Nkosi before an internal disciplinary committee shortly after the incident. She was found guilty of gross misconduct, sacked from her job at Tiga Primary School in the village of Daantjie near Nelspruit, and has been struck from the provincial teachers' roll. She may also face a prison term if found guilty on related criminal charges by the Nelspruit Regional Court next week.

The South African Democratic Teachers' Union (Sadtu), a major teachers' union, believes the actions against Nkosi are overly harsh.

Rehabilitate

"They should rather have tried to rehabilitate her. Rural teachers are under siege, working under incredible stress from unruly or undisciplined pupils, without any real institutional or psychological support from education authorities," said Sadtu's Mpumalanga secretary, Shamba Mthembu.

"While we can't condone torture or violence against pupils, it is inevitable that teachers will eventually snap in this kind of environment."

Mthembu insists Nkosi should have been allowed to keep her job and should have been rehabilitated.

"After all, Nkosi is a parent herself and, now that she can't work as a teacher, her own children are suffering.

"This incident is a symptom of a wider problem that will not go away until the authorities start addressing discipline in schools. There is a fire, and unless some one puts it out, it will consume the education system," said Mthembu.

The Council for Educators, a professional body governing teachers, disagrees. Council director Muavia Gallie insisted on Friday there was no excuse for physically harming a child.

No excuse

"There simply are absolutely no circumstances that excuse the abuse of learners. Teachers are adults, and in addition are guardians of children. Even if teachers feel unsupported by their employer, they can always appeal to their union, their school governing bodies, or even the community for help.

"This kind of unprofessional [vigilantism] turns teachers into both the judge and jury - a very dangerous situation," Gallie said.

Teachers are, however, increasingly resorting to the use of corporal punishment, which is banned, to keep their pupils obedient.

The council's records indicate that 12 teachers have been found guilty of physical assault on pupils since 1999, while provincial government records indicate at least 10 rural Mpumalanga teachers have been dismissed in the past five years for beating misbehaving pupils.

More shocking perhaps is the conviction of 93 teachers for sexual misconduct with pupils since 1999.

All of the teachers involved in these incidents have been scrapped from the national teachers' roll, effectively preventing them from ever teaching again anywhere within the Commonwealth.

Illegal

Mpumalanga Education MEC Craig Padayachee has warned that even more severe action will be taken against any future offenders.

"Such unprofessional practices warrant drastic steps against the perpetrators. Corporal punishment is illegal, and there are clear guidelines on how to deal with misconduct by pupils. There is no excuse," Padayachee said.

Nkosi's trial in Nelspruit next week has attracted international attention, with the London-based human rights watchdog Amnesty International announcing it will monitor the case as a litmus test for human and rural rights in South Africa. Nkosi has been charged along with three co-accused, her customary husband Robert Ngubane, 31, and their two friends, Sam Ntsibande, 29, and Bongani Nkuna, 31.

The prosecution contends that 42-year-old Nkosi called her husband and friends to help torture the boy. Two local KaNyamazane policemen, Sergeant Clement Magagula and Inspector Bhekifa Daniel Shobede, were also initially charged as accomplices after they allegedly allowed Nkosi and her co-accused to irregularly remove the child from a police cell where he was being held for questioning.

Charges have been dropped against the policemen without explanation.

The four remaining accused are all out on R800 bail each.

- City Press