Parents and staff have spoken out about alleged victimisation and a toxic culture at Stratford Primary in Eerste River.
The Western Cape education department is investigating allegations levelled at the school’s principal, Christopher Dietrich, including interrogation of pupils, refusing teachers time off for doctors appointments and blackmail.
Parents and teachers believe the only solution to the alleged problems at the school is for the principal to step down or change his attitude.
An employee at the school described the atmosphere in the workplace as toxic.
“To be honest, this place is not as it used to be. There is no happiness. Even the learners are too scared to interact with teachers because they might get interrogated, which is not right because every learner should feel comfortable enough to speak when they are not happy,” said the employee, who chose to remain anonymous fearing victimisation.
The employee recalled another incident where a group of pupils were called to the principal’s office and allegedly interrogated about an incident involving another teacher.
“These Grade 7 learners were traumatised and scared after they came from his office.”
The employee said some of the children were crying and said the principal had recorded them and warned them they would get in trouble if they don’t tell the truth.
“When they said things he didn’t want to hear, he would stop the recording and redid it. To make matters worse, there wasn’t a parent or SGB (school governing body) member present and their parents were not informed about the recordings.
“These children didn’t want to come to school afterwards because the incident he was interrogating them about didn’t even happen,” said the employee.
A teacher’s assistant told Weekend Argus when he approached the principal about the interrogation allegations, the principal asked if he has a personal problem with him.
“I told him there’s no personal problem but if what he is doing is true, I won’t stand for it. I am employed to make the learners feel safe and that’s what I was doing. Then he said if I interfere with the learners, he will have me removed from school.”
Aneline Steenkamp, 63, is still mourning the loss of her son Melrich Steenkamp, 28, who was employed at the school until his death in October 2020.
Steenkamp said before the principal was appointed at the school, her son was happy.
“My son loved what he did, he loved his learners and his job, but when that principal was appointed I could immediately see the changes.
“He would come home and not be in a happy mood. Things just didn’t seem right.”
In 2020, Melrich became ill after contracting Covid-19.
Steenkamp said her son never properly recovered from the virus and developed a chest and heart condition.
“It was so bad that I had to put on his shoes and socks (for him) because he would be out of breath from trying to doing that. So he had regular appointments at the doctor, and would be out of school a lot.”
Steenkamp said in September last year, her son had an appointment to go for heart tests but the principal refused to give him the time off.
“My son was warned that his contract would come to an end if he stayed out of school. So he continued working and asked for the appointment to be moved. It was school holidays in October that year, and a day before school started he still told me that the holidays went by so quickly; that night he passed away.”
Steenkamp said she believed that it was the stress of the toxic environment at school that caused her son’s death.
“Since then I tried speaking to the principal because I wanted to know why he didn’t let my son go for the tests … tests that may have saved his life. But every time I tried it was either he wasn't available or he was too busy.
“All I want is closure because he was my baby. He was only 28 years old and he was our breadwinner.”
A parent at the school, who spoke on condition of anonymity said she had tried many times to speak to the principal without any success.
“It’s like he has a closed-door policy. There’s no communication.”
Millicent Merton, a spokesperson for the Western Cape education department said the district office is aware of the allegations regarding Stratford Primary School’s principal and is attending to the matter.
Merton added that they were unable to provide further comment at this stage.
Ebrahiem Daniels, a candidate attorney for the Equal Education Law Centre, said there were routes to take to report principals.
“Principals are registered teachers and teach a subject/s at a school.
“As such, the principal can be reported to the head of department of the relevant provincial education department based on grounds of misconduct in terms of the Employment of Educators Act.
“The principal can also be reported to the South African Council for Educators for breaching the SACE Code of Professional Ethics.”