Kaya News Reporter
St Andrews College headmaster, Mr Alan Thompson has resigned with immediate effect, following a review board’s report of ‘grooming’ at the school.
This comes after investigations into allegations that the school’s former water polo coach, David Mackenzie was grooming boys.
While never convicted, David Mackenzie was accused of inappropriate behaviour with students at the school.
In 2017, the family of Thomas Kruger, accused Mackenzie of molesting the 16-year old boy who then committed suicide.
The review board did not make mention of any allegations of sexual abuse, nor make any findings thereof.
In a statement published on the school’s website, the review board found that the evidence presented “demonstrated, quite unequivocally, that Mackenzie was grooming boys.”
The report also finds that Alan Thompson, Johan Pretorius (the Espin Housemaster at the time) and certain (un-named) senior member of staff had not exercised their best endeavours to investigate complaints against Mackenzie.
Appropriate steps to correct, counsel or otherwise discipline Mackenzie when various complaints were received, were not taken.
The headmaster had not employed sufficient safeguards and measures to ensure that students were not subjected to inappropriate attention by Mackenzie.
The report found that Alan Thompson had failed his duty to care for students and take reasonable steps to prevent incidents from occurring.
Despite evidence that was presented to him, which was enough to call for a formal enquiry, Thompson handed the matter over to an independent Human Resource consultant who advised on corrective measures.
The board also noted the culture of bullying was deeply entrenched at St Andrews College, which had for years been hushed due to a “code of fear.”
Issues of substance abuse were also not dealt with by Thompson, who agreed to step down as headmaster after his 7-year tenure.
St. Andrew’s College is an Anglican high school for boys located in Makhanda, Eastern Cape province.
Also read: Matric pass rate for class of 2021 at 76.4%



