Cape Town - A Bay View mother supported by anti-gender-based violence activists is demanding that the Western Cape Education Department (WCED) intervene after a Grade 4 pupil at Sid G Rule Primary School was allegedly sexually assaulted by a fellow pupil at the school.
The mother, whose identity has been withheld to protect her minor daughter, said the incident took place on April 25.
“She came out of the bathroom and one of the boys in her class was passing as well. He came out of the boys bathroom and he asked her for a hug. She hugged him and then he put his hand up her dress and he tried to pull her tights down and he told her not to tell anyone.
“She fought him off and managed to get away and then he chased after her and he got her by the storeroom. He then pushed himself up against her, put his hands again up the dress and tried to get into her underwear and he tried to kiss her as well. She managed to fight him off again and then get away.”
She said the school took no immediate action, but said they would investigate. A week after the incident, no disciplinary action had been taken and no counselling had been offered.
It was only after activist June Dolley-Major had reached out to the school, WCED and others that the pupil was suspended for a week, the mother said.
She added that she was not informed of the pupil’s return to the school and said he would intimidate her daughter, prompting her to remove her child from the school.
She said her daughter would throw up, start having nightmares, and displayed other trauma responses.
Dolley-Major said: “I understand education is for all children; we don't want him robbed of his education. But we believe that serious intervention needs to take place in his life because something must have happened for him to become what he is today.”
“We are requesting that he be sent to maybe Girls and Boys Town or something similar to that where they deal with his behavioural issues before he becomes a statistic of Pollsmoor Prison.”
She said that because the pupil had already been transferred from another school, transferring him to another would not “sort the problem out”.
“Irrespective of the age of the perpetrator, the effect is the same on the victim. So even though he is 11, the effect is the same on her who is 9 years old.”
A memorandum of demands was accepted by a WCED official. WCED spokesperson Bronagh Hammond said several interventions had been instituted.
“Unfortunately we cannot disclose personal information about the pupils, but I can confirm that the assessment findings did not justify the district to recommend the removal or transfer of any pupil from the school. The pupil had no prior transgressions and has shown remorse.”