Jimmy Du Toit

Discipline Your Children Without Fear Jimmy Du Toit

'REASONABLE CHASTISEMENT', is no longer a valid defence against a charge of assault when parents give their children a hiding. In contrast, a parent who give a child a hiding, can expect the same potential criminal treatment, as if the victim was an adult."The common law defence of reasonable chastisement is unconstitutional and no longer applies in law," ordered a Johannesburg high court Judge, Raylene Keightley, a judgment in which fellow judge Ellem Francis concurred. The Apex Court, in September 2019, upheld the 2017 ruling by the Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg, which declared that it was unconstitutional for parents to use corporal punishment to admonish their children and found that spanking children violated their rights. The unanimous Constitutional Court judgment, FOR SA said the ruling effectively meant "parents who physically correct their children - no matter how light or well-intentioned - will be committing the crime of assault and open themselves up to the full penal machinery of the state". How can parents still discipline children for unacceptable behaviour?