Corporal punishment banned
Parents are prohibited to discipline their children in the privacy of their own homes. A recent judgement sent shock waves through the community.
MBOMBELA – Community members voiced their disbelief at the reality that a parent may be charged for common assault by using even the slightest force to chastise a child.
The highest court in the land held that even moderate corporal punishment of a child at home is not in the paramount interest of the child.
Jasper Zwane, head of communication at the Mpumalanga Department of Education (DoE), welcomed the unanimous Constitution Court decision.
“We at the DoE have been advocating against corporal punishment for years. Hopefully it will prevent violence against children in the community,” Zwane said.
Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng ruled that any form of violence constitutes assault and is inconsistent with Section 10 and 12 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa 108 of 1996.
Section 10 gives every child a right to dignity and to have their dignity protected. Section 12(1), on the other hand, ensures the right to be free from all forms of violence.
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The Constitutional Court first ruled on the subject of corporal punishment in the 1995 case of (S v Williams), where judicial whippings were declared unconstitutional. In the 2000 matter of Christian Education SA, corporal punishment was held to be illegal in schools.
Section 12 of the final constitution guarantees everyone the right to be protected from all forms of violence. These judgements set the stage for the later apex court challenge, which dealt with the constitutionality of the common-law defence of reasonable chastisement, which allows corporal punishment of children by their parents in their own homes.
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The South African Schools Act of 1996, under Section 10, banned the use of corporal punishment in schools, but despite the ban on corporal punishment 23 years ago, teachers are still beating children at school. Statistics SA in their General Household Survey of 2018 reported that 3,3 per cent of learners indicated that corporal punishment is still being used as a method of disciplining them.
South Africa has ratified many international treaties and is legally bound to ensure that these rights are protected and enforced.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) was ratified in 1995, which is in accordance with the principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations.
It obligates our government as a state party to take all appropriate steps legislatively and socially to protect children from all forms of violence, injury and neglect.
