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HIV teacher ready to fight dismissal, again
Philani Makhanya The Star, May 22 2002. Reprinted courtesy of Independent Newspapers (Pty) Ltd.
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Instead of being hailed as a role model, a teacher who disclosed her HIV status is facing being dismissed for a second time.
But Sibongile Mkhize is challenging her principal and governing body's decision at the Human Rights Commission.
A Grade 7 teacher at Sion Primary School in Ozwathini near Wartburg, KwaZulu-Natal, Mkhize, found out that she was infected with the virus in 2000.
Motivated by the education department's commitment to support infected employees, Mkhize bravely chose to be open and honest. But instead of providing her with support, the school dismissed her for absenteeism, Mkhize says.
She challenged the decision and was reinstated to her position with the intervention of the provincial education department early last year.
Recently, a department official visited her at home to hand her a letter of dismissal due to absenteeism.
Her plight has been taken up by the SA Democratic Teachers Union, the Human Rights Commission and the Treatment Action Campaign.
The education department's Mandla Msibi said that if Mkhize had again been dismissed for the same reasons, she would have to be reinstated. |
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