adminParents and teachers can continue beating up children as a disciplinary measure because the landmark High Court judgment on corporal punishment only dealt with the constitutionality of caning of juveniles as judicial punishment. This came out when the Constitutional Court was deferring indefinitely the proceedings for confirmation of the High Court judgment that outlawed sentencing of juvenile offenders to strokes of the cane.
Deputy Chief Justice Luke Malaba’s sentiments clearly shows that there was no judgment outlawing spanking of children at home and in schools and that the High Court, if it went out of its way to determine the propriety of beatings in schools and homes, that was not part of the issue placed before it. As far as the Constitutional Court was concerned, the issue for confirmation was only the constitutionality of corporal punishment by the courts. – The Herald.
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