Spanking your child a confirmed no-no for parents

"I've recently read in the news that apparently spanking your child is no longer allowed for parents. I thought this had been settled a while ago. Why is this news again?"

Over the years parents could rely on the common law defence of reasonable chastisement when spanking a minor child. This defence allowed that disciplinary chastisement may be done with the condition that it is moderate and reasonable. The courts relied on factors such as the nature of the child's transgression, the motive of the parent, the force and object used to mete out punishment, as well as the age, gender and size of the child when determining the reasonableness of chastising a minor child. 

This common law defence and parent's entitlement to administer chastisement without attracting adverse legal consequences was declared unconstitutional by our High Court. The matter originated from a case in the Johannesburg Magistrates' Court where a father of a 13-year-old boy was prosecuted and convicted for assault with intent to do grievous bodily harm after he had kicked and punched his child for watching pornographic material. The father appealed to the Gauteng High Court and it was in this appeal that the Court, on its own accord, considered the constitutionality of the common law defence and found that it is invalid on the basis that it infringes on several constitutional rights. It was also this case that attracted considerable media attention as you referred to.