Teachers fined for attack on girl pupil

Umtata – Five women teachers were sentenced yesterday to fines of R3 000 each or 18 months’ imprisonment for assaulting a 15-year-old girl pupil they claimed brought a pornographic magazine to school.

Ntombizodwa Qina, Buyiselwa Msongelwa, Thembisa Matebese, Ntsikakazi Mzantsi and Nomvula Makgato appeared in the Qumbu regional court. Two of their colleagues, Kunjulwa Calata and Fundiswa Nokwe, were acquitted.

Magistrate Vusumzi Qwaqwa acquitted all the accused on a charge of crimen injuria.

The court heard earlier that teachers at the Roman Catholic-run Little Flower School outside Qumbu found a pornographic magazine on a pupil’s desk in May, 2002, while she was away. The pupil was called to the staffroom the following day and confronted about the magazine. She was then forced to read passages from the magazine.

At some stage a banana was bought from a hawker and given to her. She was ordered to push it in her vagina. She was also beaten with a switch.

Mr Qwaqwa said there was no doubt that Qina, Msongelwa, Matebese and Makgato were active in assaulting the pupil. He said Mzantsi, referred to as “second-in-command” at Little Flower, had done nothing to prevent the beating and humiliation of the pupil.

Mr Qwaqwa said the sequence of events was not clear, particularly on the question of crimen injuria with the banana incident as witnesses had contradicted themselves.

The magistrate also said the pupil displayed herself as a sexual activist by bringing such books to school and that the pupil was accused of “sleeping” with her uncle and a taximan.

The pupil had no dignity to protect, said Mr Qwaqwa, because she had brought the pornographic magazine to school, probably to “poison” other children.

He found that the State had failed to prove crimen injuria.

On the assault, Mr Qwaqwa said the teachers’ actions were uncalled for.

He also questioned why the pupil had been made to read excerpts from the magazine to a group of teachers. – Sapa

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