Teacher fired for sex chats with school boys

A female teacher at a special needs school in Saldanha Bay in the Western Cape has been fired for engaging in sex chats with children at the school.

The teacher, identified only as Ms D Jones, was charged with making comments on the size of boys’ genitals, telling them how she enjoys being penetrated from behind, how she is going to “ride him like a broken horse” and how her private parts throb in anticipation of being with her husband.

The matter, which Jones appealed in the Education Labour Relations Court recently, was heard by commissioner Jacques Buitendag, who found that the Western Cape education department had acted correctly and fairly by ordering that Jones be found guilty of misconduct and dismissed.

The hearing took place in Afrikaans, several minors testified and a registered counsellor attended the proceedings as an intermediary.

The council heard that Jones had been employed as a departmental head at the West Coast Special School in Saldanha Bay since 2018.

The education department asked the ELRC to conduct a hearing into the matter after Jones was suspended for misconduct, having allegedly sexually pestered pupils at the school during the second or third term of 2025. They asked for an arbitrator to conduct a full inquiry into the claims made against Jones to finalise sanctions against her.

The specific charges were that Jones had sexually pestered grade 9 pupils at the school, and referenced 19 specific comments she had made to the teenagers, listed verbatim in Afrikaans.

These included comments such as “You are small and don’t know when to pull out”, “You can’t make a baby”, “I’m going to get myself a vibrator because there are no feelings in that thing” and “You guys don’t know how to satisfy a woman”.

“I must determine whether Ms Jones is guilty, on the balance of probabilities, of the allegations levelled against her and if so, I must determine the appropriate sanction,” Buitendag said.

The Western Cape education department called the school principal, three teachers and six pupils (identified only as learners A to F because they are minors) as witnesses.

Teacher Mr W van Heerden made a formal report against Jones on September 11 last year, regarding an incident that had happened three days earlier when he had taken his class to play touch rugby.

Jones had arrived soon after with her class, and he had overheard her having a conversation of a sexual nature with some of the pupils in the pavilion. He said it made him very uncomfortable.

He recalled that during the conversation with the pupils, Jones asked them if they knew how to make babies, and he told them how one boy mimicked having sex.

Learner A, who is 15, said Jones had approached them at touch rugby and interrupted their chat to tell them that Learner B could not teach them about sex if they did not know how to “take it out”.

Learner A had responded by saying that he “knows when to take it out” and referenced several other inappropriate comments made by Jones. He said there had been no sexual discussions before her arrival, and she had initiated the conversation.

Learner B reported Jones for making sexual comments during the touch rugby incident and in class discussions.

Learner C testified that Jones had told him that he is small and immature and has a small penis.

Learner D testified that he had heard Jones initiating sexual conversations in class — sometimes in front of girls — that made him uncomfortable, and he had felt compelled to report her.

The school’s deputy principal said he had received a written report from Learner B and another head of department regarding sexual comments made by Jones in class, and how pupils had felt uncomfortable.

Ms Jones’ version is not much more than a mere denial of the allegations. She has provided no credible explanation as to why the learners and staff would fabricate their testimony and she also did not call any learner or other witness to refute the allegations or provide a different context.

—  Commissioner Jacques Buitendag

Learner E, a 17-year-old girl, said Jones had told them to eat oysters to get them in the mood for sex and to use condoms.

She said Jones had also initiated conversations about menstruation and had told pupils how her husband battled to get an erection.

The school principal, Ms D Engelbrecht, said she was distressed by the allegations as pupils at the school are mildly intellectually disabled and some did not have filters. She felt that Jones had broken trust with the school and could not be allowed to continue working with vulnerable pupils.

Jones denied engaging boys in sexual chats and said she had walked away from such conversations. She did not know why some of the pupils had testified against her, as some were not in her class.

She said other teachers could not have overheard her talking inappropriately and claimed that Learner B had a discipline problem. She didn’t call any pupils to corroborate her story because she did not feel she could trust them.

“Ms Jones’ version is not much more than a mere denial of the allegations. She has provided no credible explanation as to why the learners and staff would fabricate their testimony and she also did not call any learner or other witness to refute the allegations or provide a different context,” Buitendag found.

He said the allegations against Jones had been proven, and her actions were “inappropriate, disgraceful and unacceptable and far removed from acting in the best interest of the learners”.

Her failure to acknowledge any wrongdoing or show remorse meant her employment as a teacher could not continue. He ordered that she be dismissed with immediate effect and declared unsuitable to work with children.