Faizel Patel – 13/08/2021

Gauteng Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi says five employees implicated in the rape of a grade 1 pupil at Khensani Primary School in Soshanguve were not suspended but were asked to stay at home by the school management.

Lesufi visited the school on Thursday after it emerged that no one had been arrested for the crime.

It is  understood that the little girl was attacked in the school’s ablution block last week by a general worker who was yet to be identified.

Lesufi says five staff members had been asked not to report to work pending the investigation into the rape of the six-year-old girl.

He has urged Tshwane police to expedite their investigation into the rape.

“There’s one thing that we believe that regardless of all these reports we can’t postpone because there are allegations directed at certain individuals. So, we’ve taken a decision that those individuals must not come back here until the expert reports prove them otherwise.”

Lesufi says the investigations by the department would be thorough to avoid mistakes of the past.

“We had a case in Soweto where a security guard was alleged to have sexually harassed close to 25 learners. We lost in that case because of the shoddy investigation, and the shoddy reporting and the court could not agree with us. Up until today, I still feel that we failed those children.”

Lesufi says they have asked police to enquire about a volunteer who was among the four general assistants who never returned to the school after the rape

(Twitter: @FaizelPatel143)