TimesLIVE Premium reports that a network of parents, teachers, lawyers and other concerned individuals have come together to fund and support Pretoria High School for Girls principal Phillipa Erasmus, who has been suspended without pay.
This public call to “join the counter-offensive at Pretoria Girls” comes after Erasmus was found guilty of two counts of misconduct, namely allowing her husband to work voluntarily in the school gardens with approval of the School Governing Body and failing to properly advise the school governing body during the appointment of the school’s head of finance. The sanction followed a protracted investigation by the Gauteng department of education. A third charge of failing to enforce the school’s disciplinary code regarding an alleged racist WhatsApp group at the school was dismissed by the disciplinary hearing presiding officer. Erasmus was notified of the guilty findings last week and informed that as from this Monday she was under suspension without pay for three months. Activist and lawyer Richard Wilkinson asked for donations to be paid into a trust fund that would be administered by a Pretoria law firm that has supported Erasmus and other school officials “in the face of the sustained campaign of persecution by the Gauteng department of education”. He said the crowdfunding campaign would prioritise compensating Erasmus for the financial losses she will suffer as a result of the sanction, with the proviso that if it is lifted and she does get paid, she will reimburse what she has received. Any funds received more than her financial losses will be used to support other teachers in a similar position.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Gill Gifford at TimesLIVE Premium (subscriber access only)
- Read too, GDE must stop victimising Pretoria High School for Girls principal, at The Star
Get other news reports at the SA LabourNews home page