WATCH: Did you know sexual offenders are allowed to teach children?

In an interview on SABC2 Morning Live on Wednesday, May 30, with Leanne Manas interviewing John Jeffery, the deputy minister for the department of justice, she asked him: “How would you feel if a rapist taught your child or grandchild?”

This after the South African Council for Educators, or SACE, claimed that they are yet to use the sexual offenders register to help them do the necessary vetting of teachers, Alberton Record reports.

The organisation said the register has neither been updated nor made accessible, and that the responsibility to do this falls within the ambit of the department of justice and constitutional development.

According to Jeffery, if someone rapes an older person, their name won’t be on the sexual offenders register, and they will be allowed to teach children at school.

The sexual offenders register is not usable and not available.

“It came into effect at the end of June in 2009. It is a register for people who have committed crimes against children or mentally disabled people, sexual offences, a bit broader than having sex with them, also things like grooming. People who have been convicted of those matters, their names are being recorded and the sum of 28 978 are on the register.

“It is being updated, and a verification process is going on because it was found that some names shouldn’t be on the register list, as they are convicted of other things. If you had been convicted of a rape of an adult your name wouldn’t be on the register. The purpose of the register is to provide better screening for people who are going to be working with children or mentally disabled people,” said Jeffery.

Manas was quite disturbed by this information and pointed out that it states in Section 47 of the Criminal Law Sexual Offences and Related Matters that “no teacher could be allowed into our schools without being vetted against this register”.

“So, in all these years we have been allowing people into our schools to teach who have not been vetted against this sexual offenders register,” she said.

How would you feel if you knew your child’s teacher had raped an adult and yet was teaching your child?

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