Primary school pupils ‘conspired and lied’ to have teacher sacked, labour court hears

Details about how primary school pupils “conspired and lied” at a disciplinary hearing to have a female teacher kicked out of their school have been heard at the labour court in Cape Town.

Lee-Ann Snyders was found guilty of 14 charges of misconduct and fired from Primrose Park Primary in Manenberg in March 2020 after being accused by grade 5 pupils of name-calling, swearing, administering physical punishment and making references during a lesson to a mother’s genitalia.

The contextual background to the disciplinary charges against the teacher were revisited when the provincial education department turned to the labour court in Cape Town in a bid to have a subsequent arbitration award to reinstate the teacher with R370,000 in back pay reviewed and set aside.

Snyders taught a grade 5 class and complaints by pupils in a rival grade 5 class formed the basis of the charges against her. The former school principal testified the rivalry between the two classes was “toxic”.

A pupil, referred to as “learner B”, testified during the arbitration that Snyders was a “nice teacher” who was kind to children. The pupil confessed to lying at the disciplinary hearing about the teacher making a sexually explicit comment in class and throwing a bean bag at a pupil. Learner B said the lies were fabricated to get Snyders kicked out of the school.

[The arbitrator’s] decision falls within the band of reasonableness and as such I am constrained to uphold the award without interference.”

—  Labour court

The arbitrator found “most of the evidence led at the arbitration points to fabrications made in meetings of the group of pupils making the allegations against [Snyders]”.

The arbitrator found when considering the testimony of the former principal, “in particular about the attitudes of the pupils, particularly their penchant for defiance of the teachers, their socio-economic circumstances and the behavioural problems they presented, I am satisfied to find on conspectus of all the evidence presented at the arbitration that it is unlikely [Snyders] had conducted herself generally in the manner alleged”.

The education department challenged the arbitrator’s findings on the basis that he had:

• taken irrelevant facts into consideration while dismissing relevant facts;
• committed errors in law and procedural irregularities by relying on hearsay evidence;
• demonstrated bias against the pupils by undermining their credibility; and
• that the evidence did not rationally support his decision.

However, the labour court disagreed and ruled the arbitrator had fully considered all the evidence.

“His decision falls within the band of reasonableness and as such I am constrained to uphold the award without interference.”

The education department’s application failed and the court awarded a costs order in favour of Snyders.

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