Grey College, the prestigious all-boys school in Bloemfontein, is at the centre of a number of sexual misconduct allegations.
In particular, one teacher who taught at the school in 1989 and 1990, thus far identified only as Jimmy, is accused of rape.
The school has denied knowledge of sexual misconduct, with the allegations coming to light during a podcast by Deon Wiggett titled My Only Story, the second episode of which was published on News24.
Excerpts from their story below:
One former pupil, named Matthew, told Wiggett in episode two of the podcast that “there was dodge stuff going on” and that Jimmy was responsible. Deon Scheepers, Grey’s headmaster, said the school community was shocked by the allegations against the former teacher who, according to Wiggett, had left the school abruptly…
“The allegations have also been brought to the attention of the education department. The specific allegation had not been brought to the current headmaster’s attention,” Scheepers told News24.
The school has, however, not been able to provide details about Jimmy’s tenure at Grey and has not responded to requests for information from the school’s records or personnel files.
One teacher News24 spoke with remembered working with Jimmy, but said he was not aware of any allegations of wrongdoing made against the teacher.
The headmaster during 1989 and 1990, Dr Michau Heyns, claimed to have no memory of a teacher called Jimmy.
In the first episode, also published on News24, Wiggett detailed his own encounter with Jimmy:
“I was not his only target and I’m not his only survivor. I was one of the boys he wanted, but not an aberration or an anomaly. It wasn’t terribly exceptional when he raped me in the mouth when I was 17…”
Wiggett describes Jimmy, who is now in his 50s, as “deeply unattractive”, a man who looks like a bullfrog and “sweats by the gallon”.
And, says Wiggett, the story begins long before his encounter with Jimmy, back when Jimmy was a teacher at a prestigious boys’ school.
The podcasts focus on Wiggett’s decision to track Jimmy down and bring him to justice, slowly piecing together who the teacher he accuses of rape really is.
You can listen to the first episode, and read more on what was said, here.
The second episode can be found here.
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