Organisations advocating children’s rights, including Sonke Gender Justice, have welcomed the judgment of the South Gauteng High Court outlawing corporal punishment by parents as a step in the right direction.
The court last week ruled that the common law defence of reasonable chastisement no longer applied in law and was unconstitutional.
Sonke said the judgment meant that parents who hit their children would no longer be able to raise a “special defence” if they were charged.
The court emphasised that the intention was not to charge parents with a crime, but rather to guide and support them in finding more positive and effective ways of disciplining children.
The court pointed out that the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child had called on South Africa in 2014 to ban corporal punishment in the home and to promote information on positive discipline.
The UN Committee also made the same recommendation last year, when it urged South Africa to prohibit all forms of corporal punishment in the home, including reasonable chastisement.
The court said that protecting children was particularly important in the context of the high levels of child abuse and violence in the country.
The director at the Children’s Institute at the University of Cape Town (UCT) Professor Shanaaz Mathews said corporal punishment undermined trust between parent and child, and could instil mistrust, aggression and a lack of empathy in the child.
Mathews said: “A significant proportion of children in South Africa experience beatings by caregivers every day or every week, and often for minor transgressions.”
Sonke Gender Justice’s Wessel van der Berg said the judgment was “an important step towards children’s rights and violence prevention in South Africa”.
“This ruling promises to reduce multiple forms of violence. We look forward to working with government and the broader public to roll out education campaigns that ensure parents understand alternatives to corporal punishment and can use non-violent positive discipline approaches,” said Van der Berg.