A Northern Cape teacher who sexually assaulted two 12-year old grade 5 pupils has been dismissed after an award was made by the Education Labour Relations Council.
Willem Baartman administered corporal punishment — which has been outlawed since 1997 — to all pupils who did not do their homework, but would exempt two girls from similar punishment by touching their breasts and buttocks.
Baartman, who taught mathematics and science at a primary school in Douglas, about 100km from Kimberley, allegedly sexual assaulted the two girls during January and May this year in the storeroom adjacent his classroom.
The department charged Baartman with three counts of sexual assault after suspending him on June 4. He pleaded not guilty.
The provincial education department presented the evidence of the two pupils, named DC and KS, a mother of one of the girls, the school principal, her deputy and the department’s social worker.
DC told the disciplinary hearing held at her school during July and November that these incidents happened from March until she decided to report it to their principal Lachme Swartz on May 26 because she became scared of the teacher.
KS “basically confirmed Ms DC’s version of the events” that the teacher would threaten to administer corporal punishment on them and would rather touch her breasts and buttocks in the storeroom and tell them to leave thereafter, said arbitrator David Pietersen.
KS said this upset her so much that she would go back to her desk and cry. KS said she and DC decided to report these incidents to the principal on May 26. KS stated that she reported the incidents to her parents the following day.
He gave extensive details about the challenges he faced at the school regarding his work relationship with Ms Swartz and his performance, and that Ms Swartz never actually wanted him at (the) school.
— David Pietersen, arbitrator
KS’s mother testified she had noticed a change in her child’s behaviour since March. She said KS would be moody after school, not eat her lunch and would go straight to bed. She stated that she thought that KS was bullied, until KS told her that she was tired of the teacher who kept touching her breasts and buttocks and called her his sweetheart.
Swartz stated how the pupils came together to her office to report how the teacher was sexually assaulting them and how DC was kissed by the teacher. Swartz stated that the deputy principal, Christina Koopman, had a one-on-one talk with Baartman about these allegations, and that the teacher admitted to the corporal punishment, but denied the sexual allegations.
Koopman testified that the pupils confirmed the details of the allegations as they were narrated to her and how she learned that they were more comfortable with corporal punishment, instead of being sexually assaulted by the teacher.
Koopman said she questioned Baartman about his administering corporal punishment in the storeroom and that the teacher gave her many excuses.
Baartman said the allegations were far from the truth. He testified about his journey to becoming the departmental head for mathematics and science and how Swartz and other people were against his appointment and how he contested with Swartz for the post of principal.
“He gave extensive details about the challenges he faced at the school regarding his work relationship with Ms Swartz and his performance, and that Ms Swartz never actually wanted him at (the) school,” Pietersen said.
In cross-examination, Baartman admitted to having been previously dismissed by the department in 1999 for having had an intimate relationship with a pupil.
Pietersen found that the department’s witnesses were consistent in their versions with no contradictions and found them credible and reliable. The arbitrator said Baartman only denied the allegations against him, without any evidence to corroborate his version.
Pietersen therefore found Baartman guilty of sexual assault and imposed the mandatory sanction of dismissal in the award he made on December 1.
Children still experience corporal punishment in schools, despite the fact that several pieces of legislation have outlawed it since the 1990s.
According to the General Household Survey 2024, released by StatisticsSA in May, the percentage of pupils who had reportedly experienced corporal punishment at school dropped from 16.6% in 2009 to 6.7% in 2024.
Corporal punishment was most prevalent in KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape, while only 0.4% of pupils in Gauteng and 0.5% of pupils in Western Cape stated that they received this sort of punishment in 2024, StatsSA reported.
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