Malema calls ACDP’s Meshoe a ‘tsotsi pastor’ for spanking his kids

On Thursday, African Christian Democratic Party (ACDP) leader Reverend Kenneth Meshoe took to Twitter to criticise Wednesday’s Constitutional Court ruling banning corporal punishment, and to reveal that he and his wife “occasionally used physical discipline while raising our three children”.

In response, Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema called him a “Moruti wa tsotsi”, which roughly translates as a “tsotsi pastor” or a “gangster pastor”.

Meshoe went on to say that his children were “responsible morally upright [and] God-fearing adults who are grateful for the way we raised them”.

“Don’t be fooled by liberals – using discipline in love is not the same as abuse,” he added.

This was one of four tweets from the preacher and politician on the subject.

In another, Meshoe said the ACDP was the only political party in South Africa that had voted against the constitution.

READ MORE: Spanking your child at home is now officially illegal, following ConCourt ruling

“One reason being the right of children to disobey their parents, while parents are denied the right to discipline their children according to their biblical beliefs,” he said.

In another tweet, he said that “banning corporal correction is not going to make SA children wiser, but they will become more unruly [and] disrespect [sic] to their parents, teachers [and] authority in general”.

He then made the leap that due to the ruling we will “see more kids dropping [out of] school [and] turning to drugs, particularly nyaope”.

In yet another tweet, the ACDP leader said that the ruling would put pressure on police, asking if they would now be “diverted from fighting crime to arresting parents?”

Meshoe is not the only South African who wants corporal punishment allowed on religious grounds, with the Constitutional Court challenge to the 2017 high court ruling outlawing it the result of an appeal by civil society group Freedom of Religion South Africa (For SA).

Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng, however, upheld the ruling and dismissed the appeal, meaning that For SA and the ACDP will have to choose between what they see as their God-given right to spank and their obligation to stick to South African law.