Eswatini teacher accused of sexually assaulting pupil
By the AFREEQUE newsroom, based on Times of Eswatini
A 17-year-old pupil has accused a teacher of sexual assault at Sikhunyane High School, where four teachers have been temporarily suspended following allegations of inappropriate relationships with pupils. The school committee was alerted this year and an investigation is under way, according to its vice-chairman Thulani Methula, quoted by the Times of Eswatini.
A teacher at Sikhunyane High School in Eswatini is accused of sexual assault by a 17-year-old pupil. She is among four teachers temporarily removed from the school—three men and one woman—amid allegations of inappropriate relationships with pupils, the Times of Eswatini reports.
School committee vice-chairman Thulani Methula said the committee was informed of the first allegations this year by the school’s headteacher, Justice Makhanya, who has since died. Two pupils had reported alleged relationships with teachers. A few months later, a mother found romantic messages between her child and a teacher on the child’s phone and alerted the school.
An official from the Ministry of Education and Training met the committee and teachers, asking them to stop any such behaviour if the allegations were true, while the investigation continued. Parents, informed at meetings, called for the teachers to be suspended; the ministry official asked them to allow the procedures to take their course. Headteacher Nonophile Fakudze said the incidents had traumatised the school community.
Summary produced with the help of artificial intelligence tools, under AFREEQUE’s editorial responsibility.
