The Eastern Cape Department of Education has failed to implement a policy to protect learners against sexual harassment. This is despite a resolution in the Eastern Cape Legislature in October last year that the Department must do so.

Every year we hear about learners who have been sexually harassed, yet the Department has no policy in place to assist these learners. Victims generally fear reprisals, reputational damage, and further abuse if they come forward.

The lack of urgency raises serious questions regarding the department’s commitment to dealing with gender-based violence in schools.

According to a report received in October 2022, over a thousand school learners have been sexually assaulted since January 2021, with the number of cases increasing at alarming levels through 2023.

Upon querying if there was a policy in place to protect learners against these sexual predators in our schools, the Democratic Alliance was provided with a document dating back to 2014. On closer inspection, it became clear that this policy only deals with sexual harassment that may occur amongst departmental staff in the workplace.

While a national policy is in place, it is not specifically suited to our province.

As a result, the DA brought a motion to the Eastern Cape Legislature calling for the Department of Education, in consultation with the GBV NGOs and stakeholders, to draft an appropriate sexual harassment policy that is appropriate for the school environment and table this draft policy in the Portfolio Committee on Education within 30 days.

Download motion.

The motion was debated and passed unanimously during a sitting in October last year, but to date, no such policy has been forthcoming from the department.

We need to protect our children. There is a power imbalance between adults and minors in our schools, and we are responsible for ensuring that schools remain a safe environment for our children.

It is critical that a sexual harassment policy be approved and applied consistently to ensure a safe environment where learners feel safe and protected to speak out; register their complaints; and be ensured that no complaints will result in any recrimination, victimisation or be left unattended; and will ensure that victims are safe from having to confront their abusers at school whilst the investigation is ongoing.

We will be writing to the Legislature Speaker, Helen Sauls August, to ask for her intervention in terms of Rule 203 of the legislature’s rules to request that Education MEC Fundile Gade provide a written response as to why his Department has failed to implement the resolution of the House.

It is simply unacceptable that our children are being left to their own devices with no protection against sexual predators from the Department that has been entrusted with their care.

The DA will continue to fight to rescue the Eastern Cape and ensure that our children can have access to a safe learning environment.