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The Free State education department has backtracked on its statement regarding the suspension of another teacher at the embattled Wilgehof Primary School in Bloemfontein. Spokesperson Howard Ndaba said the department does not have the authority to suspend the teacher, accused of physically and racially abusing a Grade Six learner, as she is not employed by the department but rather the school's governing body.
This after stating that she had been suspended.
The woman is the third employee at the school to be suspended due to alleged racial abuse and negligence. History teacher, Leonard MacKay was suspended for alleged racist behaviour and the school's principal Fanie Roelofzze for allegedly not intervening.
Meanwhile the Wilgehof Primary School teacher suspended for alleged racism made a brief appearance in the Bloemfontein Magistrate's Court on an assault charge on Friday.
Leonard MacKay, a Grade 6 and 7 history teacher at the school, is charged with the assault of a 12-year-old boy at the school.
News of McKay hanging an apartheid flag and a picture of Julius Malema next to that of baboons in his classroom led to his suspension in June.
The trial for the assault charge against him will commence on 22 August.
