Six Western Cape educators have been removed from the South African Council for Educators’ (SACE) professional register for serious misconduct, with five of the cases involving sexual misconduct against learners.
The cases, recorded in SACE’s 2025/26 annual report, stretch across schools in Atlantis, Worcester, Kraaifontein, Ocean View, De Villiers and the Bo-Kaap. The Western Cape accounted for six of the 17 educators struck off nationally during the reporting period.
The disciplinary findings have prompted the ANC in the Western Cape to question whether the provincial education department is doing enough to identify, investigate and prevent abuse in schools. The party said it intended to pursue a detailed report or legislative investigation into misconduct and the protection of learners.
“We are extremely concerned. We have been raising this concern consistently. It paints a worrying picture of the WCED’s inability to identify, investigate and prevent sexual misconduct,” said ANC Western Cape opposition leader Khalid Sayed.
Asked whether the provincial government was exercising sufficient oversight, Sayed’s answer was direct: “No.” The ANC’s proposed intervention would focus on how cases are managed, how concerns are escalated and whether existing systems are adequately protecting learners from harm.
Cases recorded across five communities
The report does not name the educators involved and does not state when the offences took place. It does, however, identify the schools and the broad nature of the misconduct that led to the professional sanctions.
| School | Area | Misconduct recorded |
|---|---|---|
| Wesfleur Primary School | Avondale, Atlantis | Sexual grooming |
| Vusisizwe Secondary School | Zweletemba, Worcester | Sexual assault |
| Hector Peterson Secondary School | Wallacedene, Kraaifontein | Sexual relationship with and sexual assault of a learner |
| Jupiter Street Primary School | Ocean View | Indecent assault of learners |
| De Villiers Primary School | Not specified in the report | Sexual relationship and communication with a learner |
| St Paul’s Primary School | Bo-Kaap | Assault and verbal abuse of learners |
The list includes both primary and secondary schools, underlining that the concern is not confined to one phase of education or one part of the province. The schools are situated in communities with different local circumstances, but the cases raise the same fundamental question: whether safeguarding measures are working before misconduct escalates or causes further harm.
National caseload reaches record level
The Western Cape figures form part of a wider national disciplinary picture. SACE recorded 831 misconduct complaints, its highest number on record. The council processed 384 investigations and mediations against a target of 600, while 91 disciplinary hearings were finalised against a target of 120.
Those figures show both the scale of complaints reaching the professional regulator and the gap between planned and completed disciplinary work during the reporting period. The annual report does not indicate how many of the national complaints involved sexual misconduct or how long the individual Western Cape cases took to conclude.
For school communities, the removal of an educator from the register has professional consequences. The sanction means the educator is no longer registered with the statutory council responsible for the professional regulation of educators. The report’s listing of schools, rather than the educators’ names, also leaves unanswered questions about how the cases were first identified and what steps were taken within each school and by the provincial department.
Calls for prevention alongside discipline
Education Union of South Africa representative Andre de Bruyn said disciplinary action alone could not provide sufficient protection for learners. He called for a stronger emphasis on prevention, including effective reporting mechanisms, proper vetting and closer oversight by SACE and provincial education departments.
“We cannot rely on disciplinary action alone. Learner protection requires proactive measures, effective reporting mechanisms, proper vetting and stronger oversight by SACE and provincial education departments,” de Bruyn said.
That approach places responsibility at several levels of the education system. Professional registration and disciplinary hearings deal with conduct after a complaint has been made, while vetting, reporting procedures and departmental oversight are intended to reduce the risk of abuse going undetected. The cases listed in the report have therefore become part of a broader debate about how schools respond to warning signs and allegations.
The ANC’s call for a detailed review is likely to centre on those processes. It has not yet provided details of when such an investigation would be initiated or what form it would take. For the affected school communities, however, the publication of the cases has brought renewed attention to the need for accountability and learner safety in schools across the Western Cape.
