Labour Court rules WCED must remove warning from teacher's record

The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has been hauled over the coals again for a disciplinary matter in which it has now been ordered to remove a final warning from a Mitchells Plain teacher’s record. 

Additionally, it has been ordered to pay Princeton High School teacher, Shamim Abrahams, the remuneration to which he would have been entitled had he not been suspended without pay for three months.

The department said a decision on whether it would appeal the outcome has yet to be made.

“The WCED is aware of the outcome and is reviewing the Labour Court finding. A decision on whether we will take this matter on appeal will be forthcoming,” spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said.  

The matter culminated from a 2017 incident in which a pupil, who often bunked classes, accused Abrahams of having forcibly removed him from the class, swore at him, and told him not to return.

According to the pupil’s grandmother, as his guardian after the pupil’s mother passed away, Abrahams labelled her grandchild a ‘problem child’.

The grandmother admitted that her grandchild was not a model learner, and according to the record, the grandchild swore at Abrahams.

The record reflected that the grandmother instructed the pupil to apologise to Abrahams for swearing at him, despite the pupil denying that he swore at Abrahams, but apologised anyway.

Following an internal disciplinary process, Abrahams was found guilty of misconduct.

Abrahams, who was a maths teacher at the school and represented himself in the matter, argued that the commissioner committed a gross irregularity in the proceedings by relying on evidence from the pupil, despite the pupil’s failure to avail himself for further cross-examination.

In the absence of being able to cross-examine the pupil, Labour Court Judge Reynaud Daniels said Abrahams was unfairly deprived of a proper opportunity to complete the cross-examination of an important witness.

Judge Daniels stated that this constituted a gross irregularity in the proceedings and that Abrahams was deprived of his rights to a fair trial.

When he testified, the pupil submitted that he used to bunk classes during Grade 8, including the maths classes of Abrahams.

“In September 2015, he was suspended for bunking. An incident occurred during which a stone was thrown at the applicant (Abrahams). The applicant accused Learner A (the pupil), but he denied any involvement. During the first or second term of 2015, during class, one of the learners threw a piece of paper at the applicant. The applicant believed that Learner A had done so and told him to leave the room.

“Learner A testified that he walked out of the classroom while the applicant took his school bag (and) threw it out, saying ‘get the f**k out’. Later, after Learner A was urged to read the charge sheet, he changed his testimony, saying the applicant pulled him from his chair by his collar,” the record read.

Abrahams pleaded not guilty to the three charges he faced and testified that the pupil was “disruptive, dysfunctional, and disrespectful”.

He also testified that he did not swear at the pupil nor did he physically expel him from class, and denied the content of the charges against him. He stated that they were a fabrication.

Judge Daniels said the pupil contradicted his own evidence in material respects and manufactured his version to align with the charges. 

Responding to the outcome, Special Action Committee Education (SACE) Chairperson Terrence Smith said: “SACE's view has consistently been that the WCED is run in a bureaucratic manner and is very seldom an ‘honest broker’ in labour-related matters. We are not surprised that the court ruled against the WCED in favour of the employee.

“We must not be surprised if the WCED takes the judgment on appeal to delay justice being served. We call for the WCED and the DA to be investigated for wasting and abusing scarce public funds.”

chevon.booysen@inl.co.za