If the bill passes, South African parents lose their freedom to corporally punish their children, just like teachers did seven years ago. To get an idea of what TIME is talking about, a bit of background and context does wonders. Thirty- three percent use a belt or other object. TIME also forgets to mention that, because of its unique history of institutionalized colonial and apartheid violence, South Africa happens to be one of the most violent countries in the world, its injury death rate being twice the global average.
Women and children are the most vulnerable to this violence. Current and accurate statistics on violence are difficult to obtain, partly because much of the violence happens within the homes and goes unreported. But research and reports by several NGOs and service providers give us a solid clue about the extent of the violence that children face.
In , for example, the mental health and trauma centre Ekupholeni, which is based just outisde Johannesburg, helped sexually abused children, of whom were between two and seven years old. While it might be tempting for many to drop these numbers in a separate violence file, and treat the well-intended spank on the bottom by a parent or care-taker as a separate issue, the simple fact that both categories involve intentionally inflicting physical pain on children demands for the relationship to be taken seriously.
Some have expressed their annoyance with this, in their eyes, inappropriate conflation of corporal punishment with violence. Until the boundaries between violence and acceptable corrective pain need to be set. When does a constructive spanking turn into abuse? What does a responsible bruise look like? Corporal punishment was one of the many violent tools for the colonial and apartheid ruling class to instill discipline and maintain control.
At white settler schools , for example, boys were for a long time disciplined physically to harden them and maintain white supremacy. And there are many more reasons, not just historical ones, to reject the idea that corporal punishment and violence against children can be treated in isolation. If you grow up in a world where pain is intentionally inflicted on others in order to correct them or to resolve some sort of conflict, chances are you grow up thinking you can treat others, such as your girlfriend, that way too.
