A Northern Cape teacher who resigned from her job, alleging hostile working conditions, has failed in her attempt to return to work after the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) ruled that her resignation was voluntary. Petronella Johnson resigned from her post at Deben Primary School in Kathu on 23 January 2023. She later approached the ELRC, seeking to have her departure declared as an unfair dismissal and requesting 12 months’ compensation.
During the arbitration hearings, Johnson told the ELRC that although she got along with most colleagues and pupils, three staff members — deputy principal Jennifer Louw, Mr Locky and Ms Wagenaar — made her working environment “intolerable”. She claimed Mr Locky twice locked her inside the school premises after hours, forcing her to seek help on one occasion and to break the lock on another. She reported the incidents to the school’s principal, Aobakwe Sebolai, who raised the matter at a staff meeting, but no action was taken.
Johnson also alleged that parents were removing their children from her class, and that she was accused of absenteeism and poor performance. After a school management team meeting about these issues, she immediately returned to her classroom, collected her belongings and resigned, citing mistrust and infighting. She maintained that she was never informed of the specific reasons behind the parents’ dissatisfaction, and that Sebolai warned that her position could be lost if the complaints were not resolved.
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She claimed she would not have left if the incidents had not occurred. She later acknowledged under cross-examination that Seboali addressed the problems, and conceded it was her choice not to follow formal grievance procedures.
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