9 September 2025 | 07:53 CAT
2-minute read

In brief:

• KwaZulu-Natal recorded the highest number of teacher sexual misconduct cases in the 2024–2025 financial year, with 25 referrals to the ELRC.
• A total of 40 teachers nationwide were found guilty of sexually assaulting learners, with their names submitted to national child protection registers.
• The ELRC stresses that cases are being reported more frequently, but underreporting remains a concern.

Reports of teachers sexually assaulting pupils in South Africa are rising, with fresh statistics from the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) confirming that KwaZulu-Natal tops the national list.

For the 2024–2025 financial year, KwaZulu-Natal referred 25 cases to the ELRC, followed by the Eastern Cape with 20 and Gauteng with 18. On the lower end, Limpopo recorded just three cases, while the Northern Cape had five.

In an interview on Radio Islam International, spokesperson for the ELRC, Bernice Loxton, explained that the organisation’s role is both regulatory and protective.

“The ELRC is a bargaining council for teachers in the public education sector … and our core business is to provide an independent and impartial forum for the resolution of disputes in the public education sector, and as well to provide a forum for negotiations and consultations in matters of mutual interest in the sector.”

Loxton said the apparent spike in cases should not be seen solely as a worsening crisis but also as evidence of growing public willingness to report.

“Some of the reasons we think why there are such high numbers is that people are coming forward now to report these cases, and there might be instances of underreporting. We are not showing some of the provinces that record lower numbers.”

The ELRC runs a specialised process, established in 2018, designed to minimise secondary trauma for victims. Once a teacher is found guilty of sexual misconduct, several protective measures follow.

“The names of teachers that are found guilty are also submitted to the Department of Social Development, so that they are added to the Child Protection Register, and departments that are employing educators must ensure that they vet educators against the Child Protection Register, as well as the National Register for Sex Offenders.”

In total, 40 teachers were found guilty during the financial year. Their dismissal not only removes them from schools but bars them from teaching in future. The ELRC also shares its rulings with the South African Council for Educators (SACE), which may strike offenders from the teacher’s roll.

Loxton stressed that the disciplinary process does not replace criminal accountability. Victims and families are urged to report allegations directly to the South African Police Service, ensuring that criminal prosecutions unfold alongside administrative hearings.

The ELRC has warned that while progress has been made in rooting out offenders, underreporting continues to obscure the full scope of the problem, particularly in provinces where few cases have been officially recorded.

Listen to the full interview on Sabaahul Muslim with Moulana Sulaimaan Ravat.