De Wet Potgieter discusses the 69th Mediclinic Nelspruit Interhigh
De Wet's comments on parents and cyberbullying
Saturday’s Interhigh in White River was a job well done. Congratulations to Hoërskool Rob Ferreira on presenting a wonderful day full of gees and a sea of smiling faces of happy schoolchildren. Not to mention the proud parents filling the stadium to capacity.
The camaraderie and good sportsmanship of the athletes on the track and field were heart-warming. The singing of the participating schools’ supporters in the stands was vibrant and spirited.
Lowvelder had a strong team of journalists there from early on Saturday morning, ensuring top coverage throughout the day on the Internet and also for the bumper-packed supplement in today’s edition of the newspaper.
Under the watchful eyes of Lowveld Media’s digital manager, Benno Stander and the online content creator, Jonothan Hen-Boisen our readers were kept on top of all the thrills, fun and activities at Interhigh from the crack of dawn up to the very last nail-biting relay race. Out in the sun were Lowvelder sports editor Carli Koch and reporters Stefan de Villiers and Hancu Louw following all the agony and ecstasy of the athletes through their camera lenses, updating online as it was happening.
Unfortunately a damper was put on all this excitement by a very few disgruntled individuals over the weekend who voiced their uncalled for, and very hurtful, utterances directed at one particular school’s cheerleaders.
The comments on Lowvelder‘s Facebook page were not only derogatory, but it was downright defamation and I believe legal steps should be taken against those parents from other schools degrading innocent schoolchildren in such a way. It is totally unacceptable to tarnish the human dignity of a person in such a manner and action should be taken. The schools where these mean cyberbullies’ (in these case adults) children are tutored should also consider taking steps against the culprits.
According to Lowvelder‘s resident legal expert, Helene Eloff, when cyberbullying is committed, the following wrongful acts may lead to legal liability.
“Defamation occurs when a person makes a mean comment about another towards a third. This may be addressed in civil and criminal courts. When someone directly insults another person and the latter’s dignity has been infringed, crimen iniuria has been committed. This is a criminal offence.
“Bullies often bully based on some form of discrimination. The Constitution is very clear about this – South Africans are supposed to respect one another’s right to dignity and act in a way that entrenches that right. If someone fails to do so, he/she can be reported to the Human Rights Commission.”
Lowvelder condemns any kind of cyberbullying, hate speech or racist remarks on its website in the strongest possible terms and trusts that good readers will all refrain from such in future.
