The fine line of a slap on the wrist and child abuse

“Now any form of chastisement, such as a slap on the wrist, is immediately a charge of assault,” said Michael Swain, executive director of Freedom of Religion South Africa (For SA).

“Parents can discipline their children, but cannot use force. But what has been conflated is loving discipline by a parent in the best interests of their child which is moderate and well intentioned, and what is physical abuse.”

For SA has approached the Constitutional Court for leave to appeal the judgment. “We’re hoping for a date in the first half of 2018,” said Swain.

Representatives from the Centre for Child Law, ChildLine, Department of Social Development, the United Nations Children’s Fund and the Congress of Traditional Leaders of South Africa all came out in favour of the decision, yet offered little in the way of what to fill the hole with.

Thoko Mkhwanazi-Xaluva, chairperson of the Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities, also tore into the judgment. People needed to face what happened when a parent had a problem with a child, she said.

Using an allegorical Ma Mkhize as every parent, Mkhwanazi-Xaluva said: “The rights of her children are being violated. Ma Mkhize is sitting in her home watching her son run to the nyaope boy and she doesn’t know what to do.”

Disputing what Centre for Child Law attorney Karabo Ozah said that parents wouldn’t be prosecuted for a simple smack, Mkhwanazi-Xaluva said the reality was parents were in the hands of the criminal justice system, which was willing to protect the child.

– amandaw@citizen.co.za