Following a picket at a Belhar high school where a male teacher is accused of having sexually assaulted a female colleague when he “spanked” her, the teacher confirmed she was placed in employment at a new school.
However, Kelly Manus’s spokesperson, Vanessa le Roux, called out the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) for its “lies” and accused the department of placing Manus in a “bribe-post” in an attempt to silence her.
During the picket on Friday at the school, concerned residents and former pupils came out in their numbers in solidarity for Manus but in hopes of handing a memorandum to the school principal, the gathered group learned with disappointment that the principal was absent from school.
Among the recommendations prayed for in the memorandum handed over at the school, the concerned citizens called for sexual harassment training to be conducted at the particular school where the incident occurred.
Earlier in the week, Manus broke her silence about sexual harassment in the workplace which she believes led to her losing her job at the school at the end of last year.
The WCED in a statement, however, claimed that Manus was not unemployed and said they had given attention to her allegations despite her declining to go ahead with formal disciplinary action against the male colleague - who she deemed as a mentor.
Le Roux, who is also Parents for Equal Education SA (Peesa) founder, said she had spoken to Manus after her social media videos went viral.
“(On Wednesday) when I spoke to Kelly, she informed me that she received a call, and that she must report to the new school the following morning. My question to her, is it a permanent post, of which she replied to her understanding yes, she must report the next morning. I said to her if it is, then she must put on her most lovely dress, and that it is a new start for, after all she has been through, she is so deserving of it, and then I cautioned her that it might also, as I call it a ‘bribe-post’ to silence her for a few months.
“Whoever (said) Kelly has a job is lying, Kelly didn’t receive or sign any contract. Kelly is just hanging there at this new school. She is not on the attendance register, she literally doesn’t know what she is doing there, she doesn’t have a class, she never had one class of teaching since she reported,” said Le Roux.
In a two-part emotionally detailed account of her incidents, Manus said she lost her job due to two people and elaborated on the incident involving the male colleague and his wife - who happens to be a senior official at the school to whom the incident was reported.
According to a source, it has been confirmed that the sexual harassment matter has officially been reported to police.
WCED’s Bronagh Hammond confirmed they were aware of the sexual harassment allegations against the male colleague and had “cautioned” him.
Hammond further confirmed that Manus’s job loss was not as a result of the unfair discrimination and sexual related allegations.
“The individual was not in a vacant and funded substantive post. They were appointed in an ad hoc post (substitute post) which does not qualify in terms of the Collective Agreement. Their contract was always due to end on 31 December 2024. The school followed the correct procedures in this regard,” said Hammond.
Hammond confirmed after they were alerted of the sexual harassment allegations, the teacher declined a formal disciplinary hearing.
“The WCED continued to engage in the matter informally given the serious nature of the allegations, and the alleged educator was cautioned. There had been no prior nor subsequent complaints regarding this educator,” said Hammond.