Today marked the fifth day of Elisma Hallier-Groenewald's sit-in protest at the Department of Education's Human Resource Division.
Today marked the fifth day of Elisma Hallier-Groenewald's sit-in protest at the Department of Education's Human Resource Division.
Groenewald was injured last September after her group of pupils ran up to her and hugged her, and she lost balance and fell.
Groenewald is a teacher at Kuyasa Special School.
Every day this week, she has staged sit-in protests at the Department of Education's Grahamstown District offices, after their Human Resource division failed to resolve her Injury On Duty (IOD) claim.
Groenewald said she submitted an Employers Report of an Accident form in November and has been going to the Department almost every week since then.
"I have been to different doctors and one Orthopaedic Surgeon in Port Elizabeth said they stopped treating Injury on Duty cases because they don't get paid by the government," Groenewald said.
Although she doesn't know the full extent of her injuries due to not being able to receive the necessary diagnosis and treatment, she suffered a foot, arm and back injury and cannot sit in certain positions because of this.
"I prefer sitting on the floor most of the time because I have great difficulty sitting upright," she said.
The Human Resources officials in the Department declined to comment, or respond to questions, saying they are not allowed to do so without consent.
Several attempts were also made to obtain comment from the Provincial Department's spokesperson, Loyiso Pulumani, without success.
