Naptosa warns that systemic vetting failures may be allowing educators with serious misconduct findings — including sexual offences — to enter or remain in Western Cape classrooms. A surge in misconduct findings against teachers including sexual offences has intensified concerns over South Africa’s fragmented vetting systems, with teacher union Naptosa warning that even the Western Cape is not immune to systemic failures. This follows a parliamentary disclosure that the Education Labour Relations Council (ELRC) recorded 469 allegations nationally between 2018/19 and 2024/25, with 176 guilty findings issued between 2021/22 and 2025/26.
The Western Cape accounted for 16 of them. National Professional Teachers’ Organisation SA (Naptosa) said the figures raise a pressing question: how many offenders slipped through the cracks? Naptosa Western Cape provincial chief executive Riedwaan Ahmed told theCape Argusthe disclosures show repeated failures to keep unfit educators out of classrooms.
“NAPTOSA is gravely concerned by the figures revealed in Parliament (469 alleged cases recorded by the ELRC… 176 resulted in guilty findings). These figures, and related reporting about vetting delays caused by the Department of Justice’s manual NRSO processes, demand urgent and concrete action to protect learners,” he said. Ahmed said lower Western Cape numbers do not mean the province is protected. “The national statistics are deeply worrying and must be treated as an urgent alarm bell for every province, including the Western Cape… the pattern — a steady stream of allegations, a substantial proportion of guilty findings, and vetting bottlenecks mirrors challenge the WCED is already trying to address,” he said.
Read Full Article on Cape Argus
