Child Abuse Research in South Africa - latest Issue

In the last two years researchers in NGOs and universities, international organisations and, to a limited extent, the mainstream media, have been focusing on the crisis posed by violence against children in South Africa and the inability of public sector agencies to prevent and address such violence in a systematic and collaborative way. The purpose of this article is to examine key current research and contemporary debates on child violence in South Africa in an attempt to achieve a clear understanding of the issue, its prevalence, manifestations and effects. Most importantly, the article examines the shortcomings and failures of government in dealing with the matter and attempts to identify from research, practical interventions that society and state should take to address the crisis.

The aim of this study was to validate the test specification for normative adolescent fears developed by Collings and Gopal (2016) using a cross-validation sample of 312 school-going adolescents attending high schools located in the North West province of South Africa. Data were analyzed using systematic content analysis, with study findings (a) providing support for the content validity of the test specification developed by Collings and Gopal and (b) confirming that the primary tenets of Conservation of Resources theory provide a comprehensive basis for conceptualizing normative adolescent fears. At a broader level, study findings pose a challenge to the somewhat idyllic view of childhood and adolescent fears suggested by the extant literature, in terms of which adolescent fears have been examined largely in relation to non-traumatic events (e.g., fears and phobias relating to animals, the dark, the unknown, and so on). Findings from the present study suggest, rather, that the dominant fears for South African adolescents are associated with actual (as opposed to hypothetical) exposure to traumatic events, with further research on this issue appearing to be strongly indicated.

This article provides an overview of a family play therapy intervention developed in the design and early development and pilot testing phase of an intervention research process. The family play therapy intervention was implemented with families affected by child sexual abuse (CSA). The families’ reflections on how they experienced the family play therapy process and techniques implemented as part of the intervention process, will be described in this article.

Prior to the adoption of a progressive Constitution of Zimbabwe in 2013, corporal punishment was regarded as one of the best ways in which children could be controlled when they misbehaved. This article draws insights from the human rights based approach and proceeds on the assumption that the outlawing of corporal punishment ushered in a new era and opportunity to effectively advance children’s rights in Zimbabwe’s highly conservative society. Drawing lessons from South Africa, this paper goes beyond acknowledging the constitutional clauses against corporal punishment to unearth implications thereof. Evidently, the promulgation of the 2013 Constitution ushered a new era for improved promotion, protection and enforcement of children’s rights as a direct consequence of increased awareness, litigation, advocacy and lobbying against corporal punishment. While the constitutional ban on corporal punishment remains a starting point to ending the practice, evidence from South Africa shows that banning corporal punishment in terms of law is different from its total eradication in conservative societies with high moral and traditional overtones. Beyond the constitutional ban, this study recommends speedy alignment of child laws to the new constitution and international best practices, and widespread efforts to enlighten society on the constitutional provisions against the practice, and other alternative ways to discipline misbehaving minors without violating their fundamental rights and freedoms.

The issue of corporal punishment has always been controversial. Controversies concern, in particular, whether use of physical force against children should be abolished in its totality, or, whether room should be left for parents to minimally use physical force for discipline. In the South African 2017 judgment of YG v S (YG case), the Court ruled that the common law defence of reasonable and moderate chastisement is unconstitutional and no longer applies to South African law. This decision has the effect of totally abolishing the use of physical force against children, even for purposes of child discipline by parents. In the 2004 case of Canadian Foundation for Children v Canada (The Canadian Foundation case), Canada took a path different from South Africa’s, with the Supreme Court of Canada invoking an approach leaving room for use of physical force by parents for purposes of discipline and education. Both approaches have been subject to condescending criticism. South Africa’s approach is faulted for being individualistic and hardly taking the relational nature of rights in the family unit into account while Canada’s approach is criticized for being insensitive to children’s rights. In light of the limitations of either approaches, it remains perplexing whether there exists an approach that can strike a balance between children’s rights and parental rights within a family unit. This article demonstrates that by reconceptualising the notion of “discipline”, such a balance could be struck. It is underscored that if child discipline is understood beyond the archaic lens of “inflicting pain upon a child”, parents still enjoy discretion within the family unit to discipline their children through the various alternatives to physical force. The discretion at the disposal of parents therefore suggests that South Africa’s approach, if invoked, can accord due regard to children’s best interest and parental right’s within the family unit.

Much has been written about children’s rights cultural contestation around the world and in Zimbabwe in particular but little is known about its impact in the support of OVC (Orphans and Vulnerable Children) within the rural communities of Zimbabwe. This phenomenological qualitative study seeks to examine the impact of child rights cultural contestation in supporting OVC in Zimbabwe. The study focuses on the lived experiences, perceptions, feelings and views of OVC and care-givers in the Gutu District of Zimbabwe. Data were collected through in-depth narrative interviews conducted with 40 participants which include both caregivers and OVCs purposively sampled in the Gutu District of Zimbabwe. The results revealed that even though the children’s rights have been widely publicised and implemented through various channels, the local rural communities are still espousing their cultural oriented ways of child upbringing which interferes with children’s rights as disseminated by United Nations Declaration for Children’s Rights (UNDCR). The study proposed the establishment of an integrated stakeholders' approach to the rural people about the essence of the children’s rights. In such instances, the children’s right is rendered more effective and is better entrenched when it is channelled through the traditional ways of child upbringing.

This article looks at children as a vulnerable group in society who need protection, especially those who come into conflict with the law. In particular, those accused of committing crime need to be diverted from entering the criminal justice system and if this is not possible, measures should be put in place to prevent the stigmatisation associated with having a criminal record. Section 28 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa (1996) endorses such protection. This article outlines the role played by a probation officer in the diversion process. It examines international and national instruments that promote the protection of children in conflict with the law. It looks at how probation officers and other stakeholders in the justice system regarding the handling of children accused of committing crimes.