Parents throw principal out of her office

GAUTENG MEC for Education, Panyaza Lesufi, yesterday slammed the parents who literally threw Laerskool Theresapark principal Dorothy Mabaso out of her office.

“This is completely unacceptable. We cannot allow our principals to be treated like this. We strongly condemn this behaviour,” Lesufi said.

“We are investigating the allegations levelled against the principal and school governing body. We will communicate the outcome once the investigations are concluded.

“We must express our disappointment at the scenes of violence and intimidation at the said school that we witnessed on video clips shared with us this morning. It is unfortunate that parents resorted to such conduct in a school environment, exposing our children to such unpalatable behaviour.

“We would like to implore parents to address their grievances amicably without disrupting teaching and learning as it is difficult to recover lost teaching time,” the MEC said.

The parents accused Mabaso of mistreating staff members. According to them, her alleged victims eventually quit their jobs. They also accused her of running the school into financial ruin.

Chanting parents went to the school early in the morning and after invading the principal’s office, lifted Mabaso, who was seated on her leather chair and carried her outside, where she eventually jumped off the chair and fell flat on her face.

Police from Pretoria North and Tshwane metro police were called in after the principal refused to leave. She had returned to her office and locked herself in.

The parents insisted that they would not leave until Mabaso either resigned or was moved elsewhere by the Department of Education, which had promoted her to principal in 2019.