In a stark reminder that remorse does not equate to leniency, a teacher has been summarily dismissed despite pleading guilty from the start of his disciplinary proceedings for sending lewd messages to a grade 9 pupil.
The arbitration award, issued on Friday by the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC), concluded the case of Rhulani Chabalala, a teacher at Boipelo Secondary School in Kagiso on the West Rand.
While arbitrator Themba Manganyi applauded Chabalala for not wasting the council’s time by contesting the charges, the severity of his misconduct ultimately outweighed his cooperation.
Evidence presented during the hearing revealed that in October 2025, Chabalala had used WhatsApp to make inappropriate sexual advances towards the pupil, identified as BM. The messages included a request for the student to visit his residence and contained graphic descriptions of sex.
Manganyi said Chabalala pleaded guilty to the allegation that was levelled against him.
“I checked with him if he understood what he pleaded guilty to and whether he was not coerced in any way, shape or form. He confirmed that he indeed sent the Whatsapp messages to the learner as alleged and that he understood what his guilty plea meant.”
Manganyi said Chabalala’s admission of guilt, to him, was a testament of an individual who was taking accountability for his action.
“Under different circumstances, I can vouch for him as a suitable candidate for progressive discipline.”
Manganyi said Chabalala submitted he had an unblemished disciplinary record since he was employed in 2013.
He submitted that he was the sole breadwinner supporting his siblings who are still of school-going age and his ailing father, and that he has financial obligations to his creditors.
Educators are entrusted with the care of children and adolescents. Therefore, they must act with the utmost good faith in their conduct towards learners, as society must be able to trust educators unconditionally with children.
— Arbitrator Themba Manganyi
Chabalala acknowledged that the rights of a pupil were paramount as envisaged in the constitution. He conceded that his conduct was inappropriate and that it breached the boundaries of professionalism.
He submitted that his conduct was not repetitive and that it was limited to WhatsApp communication. He asked for a sanction short of dismissal.
However, Pulane Tafane, a labour relations officer representing the Gauteng head of education department, submitted that Chabalala violated the pupil’s rights to human dignity and therefore his conduct must be corrected to avert similar conduct by other employees of the department.
She further argued that the department did not consider Chabalala’s guilty plea as a sign of remorse as he was not supposed to have acted in this improper manner at all.
She submitted that Chabalala must be declared unfit to work with children.
Manganyi said courts in all jurisdictions have always viewed any form of sexual inappropriate behaviour on the part of teachers towards children in the most serious light, justifying summary dismissal.
He said the Labour Court also regarded any form of sexual molestation or sexual harassment in the workplace as extremely serious, justifying dismissal.
“Educators are entrusted with the care of children and adolescents. Therefore, they must act with the utmost good faith in their conduct towards learners, as society must be able to trust educators unconditionally with children.”
He said if teachers breached this trust, dismissal was generally the most appropriate sanction.
“I therefore find that, despite the remorseful demeanour of Mr Chabalala, his conduct is not aligned with a model educator and that he cannot be trusted to be in the vicinity of learners.”
Manganyi said in view of the guilty finding on these allegations, dismissal would be appropriate under the circumstances as it related to sexual advances towards a pupil.
He also found that Chabalala was unsuitable to work with children in terms of the Children’s Act of 2005.
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