“The vulnerability of children, their rights to dignity and to have the paramountcy of their best interests upheld, as well as the availability of less restrictive means to achieve discipline, render moderate and reasonable chastisement unconstitutional.” These were the words of Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng at the Constitutional Court on 18 September 2019, when he made a ruling that made corporal punishment in South African households unconstitutional and illegal. The Chief Justice was, in fact, endorsing a ruling made by the High Court in 2017.
So, what exactly does this ruling mean in layman’s terms? According to Childline South Africa, any form of “hitting, slapping, pinching, pushing, shaking and kicking; depriving a child of food, rest or movement, forcing chillies, washing-up liquid or other irritating substances into their mouth or…
