This archive report was first published on 18 September 2019.
On September 18, 2019, South Africa's highest court made a landmark ruling that upheld a ban on spanking children at home, citing the practice as a violation of child rights.
The South African Constitutional Court's decision was a unanimous one, with nine judges agreeing that corporal punishment should be banned.
The ruling was a response to a challenge by a religious freedom group, which argued that parents should have the right to raise their children according to their religious beliefs.
However, the court ruled that the vulnerability of children and their rights to dignity and best interests take precedence over any perceived need for corporal punishment.
South Africa has a history of banning corporal punishment in various settings, including prisons in 1995 and schools in 2000.
According to the court, "The vulnerability of children, their rights to dignity and to have the paramountcy of their best interests upheld, as well as the availability of less restrictive means to achieve discipline, render moderate and reasonable chastisement unconstitutional."
