The Portfolio Committee on Basic Education yesterday held a parliamentary enquiry into the prevalence of statutory rape in schools. This follows an instruction by the Speaker of the National Assembly to six portfolio committees to conduct a comprehensive enquiry into the prevalence of sexual abuse of minors in South Africa.
The leading committee in this process is the Portfolio Committee on Women, Youth and People with disabilities, which has started with oversight and engagement with stakeholders the Eastern Cape and Gauteng provinces.
Other participating committees are the portfolio committees on Higher Education, Justice and Constitutional Development, Police and Social Development.
Ms Joy Maimela, the Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Basic Education, said the other committees will also hold similar enquiries focusing on their own portfolios before all committees meet to compile a comprehensive report which will be submitted to the Office of the Speaker.
Yesterday, the committee received submissions from the national Department of Basic Education and the nine provincial education departments, as well as submissions from teachers’ unions, legal advocacy groups, learner representative organisations and school governing bodies.
In her opening remarks, the Chairperson explained that despite the elaborate legal clarity of what constitutes statutory rape, the country continues to face a distressing rise in cases where young learners, some as young as 10 or 12 years old, become victims of sexual violation and coercive relationships with older men, peers or even individuals in positions of trust.
“The problem is multifaceted. It cuts across social, economic and cultural lines, reflecting deep-rooted structural inequalities and moral failures in our society. As the analyses from recent departmental and civil society presentations indicate, statutory rape is not an isolated legal offence but a symptom of systemic poverty, gender inequality and cultural silence. These conditions perpetuate environments where abuse is normalised and victims are silenced,” said the committee Chairperson.
The Minister of Basic Education, Ms Siviwe Gwarube, said the department was not proud of the statistics of statutory rape cases in schools and highlighted weaknesses in the system which still allows teachers charged with sexual misconduct to resign and reapply somewhere else. “This is a complex issue. One of the biggest challenges in the sector is that we need to make sure the reports lead to convictions; the key to ridding our schools of sexual offenders is having them in jail.
“While we acknowledge gaps in the system, we have taken steps to strengthen reporting, terminate and prevent reemployment of persons found guilty of statutory rape. Our schools must be places of safety and learning, not for abuse and harassment of learners,” said the Minister.
The committee noted with concern that of South Africa’s 405 000 educators, only 42 650 have been vetted, which Ms Maimela admitted is a huge problem. The department blamed this on the South African Police Service and the Department of Justice, which are responsible for the vetting and the offenders’ registers. Committee members called for this to be corrected urgently, to weed out pedophiles in schools. The committee also wants the vetting include all people working in schools, not only educators.
Learner representatives complained that teachers do not have the skills to deal with statutory rape in schools and some do not even know how to go about reporting such offences. A suggestion was made for the department to train teachers on the process and all the relevant legislation and policies.
Another notable challenge is the underreporting of cases by principals and even the families concerned, in some instances. “We have also noted with concern that while we have policies requiring mandatory reporting, compliance remains inconsistent across provinces and districts. In one province, only a single district had fully operationalised digital reporting tools by late 2025. Such weaknesses not only violate the rights of children but also erode public confidence in our institutions, said Ms Maimela.
The committee Chairperson said the challenge was not the absence of law, but the failure of implementation, and that the gap between policy and practice was wide. She said the committee learned that professionals are often confused about reporting procedures, particularly about the overlap between Section 54 of the Sexual Offences Act and Section 110 of the Children’s Act, both of which impose mandatory reporting obligations but lack clarity on referral pathways.
“This confusion leads to under-reporting, delays and, tragically, the continued victimisation of children,” she said.
Stakeholders want the legislation to be amended to make it compulsory for parents to report statutory rape, after reports revealed that some families hide the rape of minors and chose financial dependency over justice for the victims if the perpetrator is a family member. In addition, victims at times are prevented from testifying in court or during hearings, which weakens cases.
Some of the key issues that emerged during the enquiry include the need to focus on prevention and comprehensive education about age of consent and reporting offences. The committee will interrogate the department’s campaigns on these issues the funding available, and investigate identified gaps in the legislative framework of the basic education system.
The committee also questioned the Eastern Cape Provincial Department of Education about a case of a school principal who was accused of sexual misconduct and resigned before the case was finalised only to be reappointed in another school a year later. Officials from the department confirmed the matter and that the principal was found guilty but resigned before any sanctions were implemented. However, they could not explain the re-employment of the perpetrator.
The South African Council for Educators had no records of the case because authorities did not report it. This meant that the accused kept his SACE certificate and was then rehired as an educator. “The Eastern Cape cannot evade this matter. We want them to respond and explain what happened. Why a case was not reported to SACE and also reasons for rehiring the perpetrator,” said Ms Maimela.
Sakhile Mokoena
12 November 2025
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