ACDP notes renewed efforts to ban ‘reasonable chastisement’ making criminals of parents who choose to include spanking in discipline of their children

          MEDIA RELEASE
          Cheryllyn Dudley MP
          11 July 2013

On 21 May, the Department of Social Development conducted a Child Care and Protection Forum, where the topics of “Positive Discipline of Children” and “The Right of Parents to Discipline Their Children” were discussed. Many organisations have been working since 2007 to attempt once again to ban ‘reasonable chastisement’ – criminalising parents who choose to spank their children.

“I think many people never realised the fight of many years waged by the ACDP over this issue and the incredible victory we ALONE won on behalf of responsible parents in South Africa.

“The statements we put out at the time were purposely understated as I had to convince people that removing the contentious clause would, for a variety of reasons, be in their own best interests.  This was a huge work and attention to detail was critical - I personally worked past midnight with other members on many nights as we worked with this legislation.  The multi-faceted approach of the ACDP on this specific issue was a huge success - and we would be grateful if you could find a way to let people know how it really happened - bragging about our own successes has sadly been one of our weaknesses.  We need people like you to help us with this and even more so now that we are approaching the 2014 election.” – Cheryllyn Dudley MP
During deliberations on the Children’s Amendment Bill in 2007, the ACDP proposed the removal of section 139 to allow the Bill to proceed without delay.  The subsequent removal of section 139 (the clause banning parental physical discipline of children) was therefore enthusiastically welcomed by the ACDP in November that year.

While the offending clause is expected to be placed before the National Assembly in due course, ACDP Member of Parliament and Member (at the time) of the Portfolio Committee on Social Development, Cheryllyn Dudley said: “The public will have further opportunity to express their considerable concerns and hopefully common sense will once again prevail in the legislature!  Failing that another miracle?

“Abolishing the defense of reasonable chastisement and turning a majority of parents into criminals is no solution; it cannot possibly hope to address the very real problem of abuse and violence against children in South Africa.  Constant attempts to equate abuse and violence with reasonable chastisement or a spanking are misguided and frankly disingenuous”.

At the time, the African Christian Democratic Party, whole-heartedly supported the remainder of the Bill and thanked - not only the Department, law advisors and Portfolio Committee but also civil society for their dedication, time and effort in working on this much needed piece of legislation.

The ACDP is particularly pleased to have been instrumental in ensuring that Provinces are now obliged to provide and fund Prevention and Early Intervention Services for children at risk.  Lack of funding has until now, severely restricted Child Protection Organisations, to dealing with children in crisis rather than being able to intervene effectively at an earlier stage.

The prioritizing of funding for Early Childhood Development in needy communities and the fact that street children will now be acknowledged and given greater priority as children in need of care and protection are just some of the ACDP’s significant achievements during the drafting of this bill.

The ACDP had pointed out that if clause 139 had not been removed this long awaited and extremely important piece of legislation would be challenged in the Constitutional Court at great expense to Parliament and the Department and ultimately the people of South Africa – and any delay in implementation of this legislation would significantly disadvantage vulnerable children.