Court bans parents from smacking their children in South Africa

A court in Johannesburg recently ruled that physical discipline in the home was not in line with the constitution, meaning parents who smack their children could be jailed for assault.

The court ruling has got South Africans of all ages discussing the merits, and otherwise, of smacking children. Social media and comment pages of online websites were flooded with parents criticising the ruling.

Abrie Botha posted on local TV channel ENCA’s website:” Spanking taught me good manners, respect, high work ethics, drive to perform at my best, loyalty, determination. It made me a very successful human being. What is this nonsense?

Corporal punishment in the home is illegal in at least 53 countries in the world, including Brazil, France, Kenya, Benin, the Republic of Congo and most recently Zimbabwe.

A number of countries including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, China and Nigeria still allow corporal punishment “in some settings”, according to the UN-linked Global Initiative to End All Corporal Punishment of Children, whose mandate is to help implement in resolutions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.