After conducting checks, the TPN Credit Bureau found that there is an increase in educators with criminal records. According to the Bureaus Legal Counsel, Ashleigh Laurent and Ethics Manager, more than two-thirds are not declaring it when requested to do so.
The South African Educators Council (SACE) also announced that teachers need to submit a police clearance certificate that is not older than six months when registering with the council, as this is also in accordance with a policy that had been introduced in 2019.
In an interview, Laurent said:
This is something that can be addressed by schools using the correct vetting processes.
SACE Ethics manager, George Moroasui has also explained that this policy was introduced to address the gaps that existed, this includes teachers that were previously employed without proper checks.
Moroasui has also emphasised that it is the duty of the employer to properly vet a candidate's criminal or misconduct status.
It has been reported that the common convictions are of theft, negligent driving, assault, fraud, and also drug trafficking.
The Education Department’s spokesperson, Elijah Mhlanga has also shared that the fact that people are not disclosing this is concerning and the assumption is that they don’t want to lose their jobs.
Mhlanga said that this issue has been also picked up in the last phase of the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative (PYEI), however, individuals that had been found to have undisclosed criminal records were removed from the programme.
