6500 scholar patrolman in Gauteng to go through compulsory vetting process

20 October 2017 2:00 PM

The re-vetting process of more than 6500 scholar patrolman will starts this weekend following a series of sexual abuse cases at Gauteng schools.

Gauteng MEC for Education, Panyaza Lesufi says the vetting process that's due to take place on Sunday is compulsory and if anyone is absent, their contract will be automatically terminated.

By the time we go the 2018 academic year, we need to have people we can trust - people who can execute what we have asked then to do.
— Panyaza Lesufi, Gauteng Education MEC

Lesufi says the vetting process will be looking for criminal records, those who have been found guilty of child abuse, checking fingerprint records and any previous outstanding reported cases.

He says the scholar patrolman at Orlando East Primary School was only vetted on two things - the fingerprints and the Saps criminal database. It was found that he did not have any criminal cases against him, and his fingerprints were not found on the system to be related to any crime.

Now we have extended that process to include the Social Development database of child offenders and the justice system database, including if the person is not paying maintenance because it indicates that this person is not good in safeguarding our children.
— Panyaza Lesufi, Gauteng Education MEC

To hear the rest of the interview, listen below:

This article first appeared on 702 : 6500 scholar patrolman in Gauteng to go through compulsory vetting process

Written by: Lengwadishang Ramphele