Maths teacher fired for classroom sexual assaults on grade 8 girl 24 April 2021 - 12:41 A Western Cape teacher has been fired for sexually assaulting a grade 8 girl. File photo Image: 123rf/Palida Chankarun A maths teacher who repeatedly sexually assaulted a grade 8 girl in front of her classmates and told her he loved her has been fired. Gerhard Strydom's target, a pupil at Wesbank Secondary School in Malmesbury, Western Cape, broke down in tears as she testified at an Education Labour Relations Council arbitration hearing. But arbitrator Gail McEwan said the girl's story was “consistent despite her emotions. It was evident that it was painful for her to again be saying exactly what Strydom had done. I have no reason not to believe this evidence.”