Learner safety in Gauteng schools is under renewed threat as the Gauteng Department of Education (GDE) stalls the vetting of individuals working with children against the National Register for Sex Offenders (NRSO), citing funding constraints. The Democratic Alliance (DA) is calling for vetting process to be made free for all government departments given that is a statutory obligation to vet all employees working with children. Considering the financial constraints across all departments, if they continue to charge for this process, we will never achieve 100% vetting, which will leave our children exposed and vulnerable to sexual predators.
The GDE recently presented the vetting obstacles to the Gauteng Education Portfolio Committee, revealing that only 11% of the 86,367 employees have received clearance certificates and only 28,530 vetting applications were submitted from district offices. Of these, 24,260 were received by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, with 3,834 applications rejected. Alarmingly, more than 10,422 applications are pending.
This means that thousands of individuals are permitted to work with children in schools without undergoing checks to assess their suitability. This situation poses a potential risk to learners, as some of these individuals may have histories of sexual offences or other misconduct.
Furthermore, this situation is concerning, given what the DA previously uncovered through questions to the MEC for Education, Matome Chiloane. We found that five people had convictions for sexual offences, 17 others had suspended convictions, one person resigned after being identified, and one is still facing disciplinary action.
The DA calls for free vetting process for all departments against the NRSO.
A DA-led Gauteng Provincial Government would have pushed for the streamlining and centralisation of the vetting system across departments. We would also advocate for a provincial deadline for the vetting of all individuals working with children, and the immediate removal of any individual flagged by the system from contact with learners. We are the only party committed to making this happen for the benefit of all our children.