A Mpumalanga high school principal has been suspended for allegedly having relationships with two matric pupils, the provincial education department said on Thursday.

The matter came to light on September 8, when the two girls confronted him at his Bushbuckridge school, accused him of cheating on them and beat him up, spokesperson Gerald Sambo said.

One of the girls is a pupil at the principal’s school. The other is from another school.

The principal was suspended, pending an investigation by the department and a disciplinary inquiry.

He declined to comment.

Sambo said that the department did not condone teachers having romantic relationships with their pupils.

“What educators need to do is to teach and protect learners like their own parents,” he said.

Bushbuckridge Residents Association spokesperson Promise Moripa also said that teachers should protect pupils in the same way in which they did with their children.

“It’s disappointing to hear that a 50-something-year-old is hanging on top of the body of a young child, likely to call them grandfather. That thought alone is exhausting because the same elder should be the one protecting the child by educating them about HIV/Aids and also helping them stay away from falling pregnant, as it would mean the doom of their future,” he said.

He called on Bushbuckridge residents to fight such behaviour by adults.