![\"Outlawed](\"http:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Outlawed-Corporal-Punishment.jpg\")
Outlawed Corporal Punishment (click to enlarge)<\/p><\/div>\n
South Africa outlaws corporal punishment in all areas except for the home – something which may soon change.<\/p>\n
Corporal punishment in schools was abolished in 1996 with legislation making it illegal for teachers and other educators to physically harm children as a form of discipline.<\/p>\n
However, these laws do not prohibit physical discipline at home.<\/p>\n
According to global lobby group End Corporal Punishment<\/a>, South African parents are protected under common law, which states that they have the power \u201cto inflict moderate and reasonable chastisement on a child for misconduct.”<\/p>\n This is provided that it is not done in a manner offensive to good morals or for objects other than correction and admonition.<\/p>\n This power can also be delegated to a person acting in a parent’s place (except for teachers and educators which are prohibited by law).<\/p>\n The law is clear about child abuse. The Children\u2019s Act of 2005 defines abuse in relation to a child as \u201cany form of harm or ill-treatment deliberately inflicted on a child\u201d including \u201cassaulting a child or inflicting any other form of deliberate injury to a child\u201d and \u201cexposing or subjecting a child to behaviour that may harm the child psychologically or emotionally\u201d.<\/p>\n Proponents of ending corporal punishment argue that this definition matches the act of physically hurting a child to correct behaviour.<\/p>\n According to the SAHRC, there is widespread acceptance of physical abuse of children within homes and schools, and many children are subjected to corporal punishment.<\/p>\n A national survey found that more than half (57%) of parents with children under 18 reported smacking their children at some point and 33% reported using a belt or object to hit their children.<\/p>\n And even though corporal punishment in school is outlawed, 12.4% of children reportedly experienced physical discipline by teachers in school.<\/p>\n The South African Council of Educators (SACE) received 245 reports of corporal punishment against teachers in the 2014-2015 financial year, compared to 202 reported cases in 2013-2014.<\/p>\n “Most violence happens in the domestic sphere and is perpetrated by persons in authority over the child,” the SAHRC said.<\/p>\n According to the group, on top of the Children’s\u00a0and Children’s Second Amendment Bills tables in 2015, there is a Children’s\u00a0Third Amendment Bill in the works, to be tabled sometime in 2016.<\/p>\n This bill reportedly\u00a0states that \u201cno child may be subjected to corporal punishment or be punished in a cruel, inhuman or degrading way\u201d and \u201cthe common law defence of reasonable chastisement \u2026 is hereby abolished\u201d.<\/p>\n Smacking your kids may make them do worse at school<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n There\u2019s no evidence that death penalty is a deterrent against crime<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\nMore on corporal punishment<\/h3>\n