Nearly 60,000 people in Swaziland face looming starvation and death: Save The Children

Nearly 60,000 people in Swaziland (eSwatini) face starvation or death without immediate action, Save The Children reported.

They are among more than 347,000 people in the kingdom who face acute food shortage and need urgent humanitarian assistance. This includes about 180,000 children.

The population of Swaziland is about 1.2 million people.

Save The Children said ‘nearly 60,000 people [are] experiencing emergency levels of hunger, meaning that without immediate action, they could face starvation or even death’.

In a statement, Save The Children said, Swaziland had experienced a rapid deterioration in food availability over past months due to coronavirus (COVID-19)-related job losses, high food prices, and erratic rainfall leading to a poor harvest at the end of 2020.

It reported, ‘The latest figures show that 31 percent of the population is now suffering from the food crisis, a markedly worse situation than the last hunger assessment in 2019, when 18 percent of the population was experiencing severe hunger.’

Save the Children has launched an emergency programme with the Swazi National Disaster Management Agency and plans to scale up its response to ensure critical food packages and nutritional supplements reach children and their families.

The agency is urgently calling on donors to release funds to support the emergency response and stave off a hunger crisis.

Save the Children’s Executive Director in eSwatini, Dumisani Mnisi, said, ‘The situation in eSwatini has been rapidly deteriorating and it’s finally reached a tipping point.’

Mnisi added, ‘We are calling on the international community for support as we rally together to face this challenge.’

 See also

‘Urgent action needed to save lives’ as hunger grips Swaziland

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2021/02/urgent-action-needed-to-save-lives-as.html

One in three people in Swaziland in urgent need of food, Deputy PM reports https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2020/12/one-in-three-people-in-swaziland-in.html

Research in Swaziland suggests spanking children is harmful and can cause mental problems

New research from Swaziland / eSwatini and other developing countries suggests that spanking children is harmful and can cause mental problems.

The study used data from UNICEF global children’s organisation from 62 countries, including Swaziland. 

Corporal punishment is widespread in homes in Swaziland. It was banned from schools in 2015 but continues to be used.

The study from the University of Michigan in the United States found one-third of people questioned said they believed physical punishment was necessary to bring up, raise or educate a child properly. Among the children studied, 43 percent were spanked, or resided in a home where another child was spanked.

A child’s social development suffered in both cases in which he or she was spanked or during times when a sibling had been spanked, the study showed.

Garrett Pace, the study’s lead author said, ‘It appears that in this sample ... spanking may do more harm than good.’

Pace also noted that ‘reductions in corporal punishment might do a great deal to reduce the burden of children’s mental health and improve child development outcomes globally’.

More effort to create policies that discourage spanking has occurred globally. In fact, 54 countries have banned the use of corporal punishment, which can only benefit children's well-being long term, Pace and colleagues said.

In a separate report UNICEF estimated nearly nine in ten children in Swaziland suffered ‘violent discipline’.

In a report of a national survey published in August 2017, UNICEF stated ‘violent discipline in the home, which includes physical punishment and psychological aggression, affects more than 88 per cent of all children in Swaziland.

‘The study findings also reveal that sexual violence and bullying affects 38 percent and 32 percent of children in Swaziland, respectively. The study found that children experiencing one type of violence were more likely to experience other types of violence. 

‘One staggering statistic to emerge from the data revealed that for every girl child known to Social Welfare as having experienced sexual violence, there are an estimated 400 girls who have never received help or assistance for sexual violence.’

UNICEF reported one of the ‘drivers’ of violence against children was Swazi culture. It stated, ‘The widely accepted notion of keeping family matters private to protect the family or community over the individual was repeatedly cited as a driver of violence and was also found to be a factor dissuading individuals from intervening when they suspect a child is abused.’

Article 29(2) of the Swaziland Constitution 2005 states ‘a child shall not be subjected to abuse or torture or other cruel inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment subject to lawful and moderate chastisement for purposes of correction’. The Children’s Protection and Welfare Act 2012 however provides for ‘justifiable’ discipline.

Corporal punishment was banned in Swazi schools by the Ministry of Education and Training in 2015, but caning continues. There are many reports from across Swaziland that pupils have been brutalised by their teachers.

In a debate in the Swazi Parliament in March 2017 members of parliament called for the cane to be brought back into schools. The MPs said the positive discipline adopted in schools was causing problems for teachers because they no longer knew how to deal with wayward pupils. 

There had been 4,556 cases of ‘severe corporal punishment’ of children in Swaziland’s schools over the previous four years, Star Africa reported in March 2016.

In 2005 The International Save the Children Alliance published research into Swazi children’s experiences of corporal punishment.

In a survey, 20 percent of children reported being hit with a hand and 59 percent of children reported being beaten with an object at school during a two-week period. In schools, children are most often hit with the hand, sticks, canes, sjamboks and blackboard dusters. 

Children reported being subjected to corporal punishment at school due to making a noise or talking in class, coming late to school, not completing work, not doing work correctly, failing tests, wearing incorrect uniform items, dropping litter, losing books or leaving them at home.

See also

Children fear beatings, miss school

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/children-fear-beatings-miss-school.html

Cane banned in Swazi schools

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/10/beating-banned-in-swazi-school.html

Teachers beat boys on naked buttocks

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/teachers-beat-boys-on-naked-buttocks.html

Education Ministry reminds Swaziland schools beating of children is banned - but it is still widespread

Teachers in Swaziland / eSwatini have been reminded in a new government policy statement that corporal punishment of children in schools is outlawed.

It was banned in 2015, but children continue to be beaten, sometimes brutally.

The reminder comes in the National Education and Training Sector Policy from the Ministry of Education and Training (MoET) which comes into force in January 2019. It said children should be taught self-discipline and respect for others without fear. All forms of corporal punishment should be replaced by non-violent ‘positive discipline’.

Despite the ban beating is rife in Swaziland schools. As recently as November 2018 it was reported police were investigating St Theresa’s Primary School, Manzini, following an allegation that teachers whipped children to make them do better in their exams. In June 2018 teachers reportedly caned every pupil at Mbuluzi High School for poor performance. 

In August 2017 it was reported boys Salesian High, a Catholic school, were forced to take down their trousers and underpants to allow teachers to beat them on the bare buttocks.

In 2011, Save the Children made a submission on corporal punishment in schools to the United Nations review on human rights in Swaziland. It said punishments at Mhlatane High School in northern Swaziland amounted to ‘torture’. 

In an overview of the situation in Swaziland schools Save the Children reported ‘The hitting of students by teachers in schools is not limited to strokes of the cane, but includes such methods as a slap with the open hand, kicks and fists. 

‘In one case in a school in the south of Swaziland, a young girl was kicked in the groin by her teacher after she refused to lift up her leg during physical education classes. She had told the teacher she cannot lift her leg up because she was wearing nothing underneath. This angered the teacher and earned the girl a kick in the groin. 

‘The damage occasioned led to paralysis as the girl walks with difficulty today, and her menstrual cycle was disturbed since then. Although initially protected by the principal and other Ministry of Education officials in Nhlangano, the teacher was eventually arrested after intervention by the girl’s elder sister.’

In a debate in the Swazi Parliament in March 2017 members called for the cane to be brought back into schools. The MPs said the positive discipline adopted in schools was causing problems for teachers because they no longer knew how to deal with wayward pupils. 

See also

Swaziland police investigate report children illegally beaten to encourage them to do well in exams

https://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2018/11/swaziland-police-investigate-as.html

 

Children chained and flogged bare

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/pupils-chained-and-flogged-bare.html

Children fear beatings, miss school

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/children-fear-beatings-miss-school.html

CHILDREN WHO SUFFER IN SWAZILAND

News that a father in Swaziland tied his 11-year-old daughter to a house pillar and thrashed her with a pipe until she became unconscious shines a focus on the constant ill treatment of children in the kingdom.

He did it as a punishment because she had arrived late home from school.

UNICEF the global children’s organisation estimates nearly nine in ten children in Swaziland suffer ‘violent discipline’.

In a report of a national survey published in August 2017, UNICEF stated ‘violent discipline in the home, which includes physical punishment and psychological aggression, affects more than 88 per cent of all children in Swaziland.

‘The study findings also reveal that sexual violence and bullying affects 38 percent and 32 percent of children in Swaziland, respectively. The study found that children experiencing one type of violence were more likely to experience other types of violence. 

‘One staggering statistic to emerge from the data revealed that for every girl child known to Social Welfare as having experienced sexual violence, there are an estimated 400 girls who have never received help or assistance for sexual violence.’

UNICEF reported one of the ‘drivers’ of violence against children was Swazi culture. It stated, ‘The widely accepted notion of keeping family matters private to protect the family or community over the individual was repeatedly cited as a driver of violence and was also found to be a factor dissuading individuals from intervening when they suspect a child is abused.’

Article 29(2) of the Swaziland Constitution 2005 states ‘a child shall not be subjected to abuse or torture or other cruel inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment subject to lawful and moderate chastisement for purposes of correction’. The Children’s Protection and Welfare Act 2012 however provides for ‘justifiable’ discipline.  

Corporal punishment was banned in Swazi schools by the Ministry of Education and Training in 2015, but caning continues. There are many reports from across Swaziland that pupils have been brutalised by their teachers.

In a debate in the Swazi Parliament in March 2017 members of parliament called for the cane to be brought back into schools. The MPs said the positive discipline adopted in schools was causing problems for teachers because they no longer knew how to deal with wayward pupils. 

There had been 4,556 cases of ‘severe corporal punishment’ of children in Swaziland’s schools over the previous four years, Star Africa reported in March 2016.

Corporal punishment is everywhere in Swaziland. In 2014, more than 30 girls were thrashed with a cane because they did not dance half naked in front of Swaziland’s King Mswati III. They were beaten so badly some needed treatment from paramedics. The girls, described in local media as ‘maidens’, were expected to take part in a ‘Reed Dance’ at Mbangweni Royal Residence in the Shiselweni region of the kingdom.

In October 2017 it was reported the Swaziland Government was being sued for E2.5 million (US$185,000) after a child was maimed by a teacher who was dishing out corporal punishment.

In 2011, Swaziland was told by the United Nations Human Rights Periodic Review held in Geneva it should stop using corporal punishment in schools, because it violated the rights of children. 

The United Nations Human Rights Periodic Review received a report jointly written by Save The Children and other groups that corporal punishment in Swazi schools was out of control. The report highlighted Mhlatane High School in northern Swaziland where it said pupils were ‘tortured’ in the name of punishment. 

In 2005 The International Save the Children Alliance published research into Swazi children’s experiences of corporal punishment.

In a survey, 20 percent of children reported being hit with a hand and 59 percent of children reported being beaten with an object at school during a two-week period. In schools, children are most often hit with the hand, sticks, canes, sjamboks and blackboard dusters. 

Children reported being subjected to corporal punishment at school due to making a noise or talking in class, coming late to school, not completing work, not doing work correctly, failing tests, wearing incorrect uniform items, dropping litter, losing books or leaving them at home.

See also

CHILDREN FEAR BEATINGS, MISS SCHOOL

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/children-fear-beatings-miss-school.html

CANE BANNED IN SWAZI SCHOOLS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/10/beating-banned-in-swazi-school.html

TEACHERS BEAT BOYS ON NAKED BUTTOCKS

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/teachers-beat-boys-on-naked-buttocks.html

SWAZI GOVT SUED OVER SCHOOL BEATING

The Swaziland Government is being sued for E2.5 million (US$185,000) after a child was maimed by a teacher who was dishing out corporal punishment.

It comes after a series of cases of excessive and illegal beatings have been reported in the kingdom.

Former Principal Secretary at the Ministry of Education and Training Pat Muir told a workshop that the parents of the child in Northern Hhohho was suing the Ministry of Education and Training. The Swazi Observer newspaper reported on Wednesday (11 October 2017) he said, ‘Today, I am reminded of a parent in Northern Hhohho who is currently suing government under the ministry of education and training about E2.5 million. This is because the teacher punished and maimed a child.’

The newspaper said, ‘He added that the Ministry of Education and Training has a number of cases in all regions of the country where teachers have been accused of assaulting pupils under the banner of corporal punishment. 

Muir was speaking at a workshop on ‘positive discipline’ designed to sensitise ministry officials on alternatives to corporal punishment which was banned in Swaziland schools in 2015.

He did not give details of the cases but there are a number on public record. As recently as September 2017 it was reported that an 11-year-old boy from Ekuphakameni Community Primary School in the outskirts of Hlatikhulu lost an eye when a cane his schoolteacher was using to illegally beat other pupils broke and splintered. 

In 2011, a 10-year-old girl at kaLanga Nazarene Primary school was blinded for life in her left eye after a splinter from a teacher’s stick flew and struck it during punishment. She was injured when her teacher was hitting another pupil, with a stick which broke.  

Another pupil in Swaziland was thrashed so hard that he later collapsed unconscious and had to be rushed to a clinic. Six pupils at Mafucula High school were thrashed with 20 strokes of a ‘small log’ because they were singing in class. It was reported that the boy who became unconscious was not one of those misbehaving, but he was flogged nonetheless. 

In September 2015, the Times of Swaziland reported a 17-year-old school pupil died after allegedly being beaten at school. The pupil reportedly had a seizure.

In March 2015, a primary school teacher at the Florence Christian Academy was charged with causing grievous bodily harm after allegedly giving 200 strokes of the cane to a 12-year-old pupil on her buttocks and all over her body.

In 2011, it was reported girls at Mpofu High School were being flogged by teachers on their bare flesh and if they resisted they were chained down so the beating could continue. They were said to have been given up to 40 strokes at a time. The Swazi Observer newspaper reported at the time the children said ‘that when they are beaten, they are made to strip naked on the lower body so that the teachers can beat them on bare flesh’.

One girl told the newspaper, ‘The teachers make us lie on a bench whereby if you are a girl you lift your skirt so that they can beat you on bare flesh, if you resist you are chained to the bench.’

Muir told the workshop which was hosted by the Save the Children Swaziland at the Pigg’s Peak Hotel the ministry was working towards eradicating all violence at schools, as well as addressing the negative impact that corporal punishment had on children, who started to hate school. 

He said, ‘As a ministry, we have noted that corporal punishment acts as a barrier that keeps children away from school, and our job is to remove that problem in order to achieve the targeted 100 per cent child education goal. Currently, we are training educational officers on positive disciple, unfortunately we still have many of our officers who are not well versed about positive discipline because they are strong believers in the proverbial saying, “spare the rod spoil the child”, but during teacher preparation in teaching college, the ministry of education and training never taught a teacher how to beat children.’

See also

CHILDREN FEAR BEATINGS, MISS SCHOOL

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/10/children-fear-beatings-miss-school.html

CANE BANNED IN SWAZI SCHOOLS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2015/10/beating-banned-in-swazi-school.html

TEACHERS BEAT BOYS ON NAKED BUTTOCKS

https://swazimedia.blogspot.co.uk/2017/08/teachers-beat-boys-on-naked-buttocks.html

BOY, 8, FLOGGED SO HARD HE VOMITS

An eight-year-old schoolboy in Swaziland was thrashed so hard in class he vomited. It is feared he might have internal bleeding as a result.

And, his teacher forced classmates to hold the boy down while he whipped him with a stick.

It happened at Siyendle Primary School, near Gege, the Times of Swaziland reported on Thursday (4 August 2016).

A group of schoolboys had been inflating condoms when they were discovered by the teacher.

The Times reported, ‘When the teacher saw what the boys were doing, he is said to have reacted by telling other pupils to hold the one who had the condom in his hands so that he could deal with him. Apparently, he thrashed the eight-year-old so badly that the pupil began to throw up in the presence of his classmates.

‘The boy’s parents suspect that the child suffered internal injuries, which might have caused his reaction.’

Schoolchildren in Swaziland are regularly subjected to fierce corporal punishment. In a report in 2011, Save the Children said school students were being ‘tortured’. In a submission to the United Nations review on human rights in Swaziland it said Mhlatane High School in northern Swaziland had ‘institutionalised’ corporal punishment.

‘Teachers can administer as many strokes [of the cane] as they desire, much against the limit stipulated in the regulations from the Ministry of Education,’ Save the Children reported.

‘Students at this school are also subjected to all forms of inhumane treatment in the name of punishment. The State has known about the torture of students that go on at Mhlatane High School for a long time, but has not done anything to address this violation of fundamental rights.’

It cited Mhlatane as the worst case, but said excessive corporal punishment was rife in Swazi schools.

It reported, ‘The hitting of students by teachers in schools is not limited to strokes of the cane, but includes such methods as a slap with the open hand, kicks and fists.

‘In one case in a school in the south of Swaziland, a young girl was kicked in the groin by her teacher after she refused to lift up her leg during physical education classes. She had told the teacher she cannot lift her leg up because she was wearing nothing underneath. This angered the teacher and earned the girl a kick in the groin.

‘The damage occasioned led to paralysis as the girl walks with difficulty today, and her menstrual cycle was disturbed since then. Although initially protected by the principal and other Ministry of Education officials in Nhlangano, the teacher was eventually arrested after intervention by the girl’s elder sister.’

There had been 4,556 cases of ‘severe corporal punishment’ of children in Swaziland’s schools over the past four years, an international news organisation reported in March 2016.

Star Africa quoted Zanele Thabede from youth group Super Buddies, who leads a team looking into youth and child issues, who in an interview said the number of whippings dated from 2012.

Star Africa reported Thabede saying, ‘Corporal punishment by teachers and principals is legal and routinely practiced and there is a growing trend of incarcerating of children and youth in the Malkerns Industrial School for Rehabilitation because of “unruly” behaviour.’

There is confusion in Swaziland as to whether corporal punishment has been banned in schools. It is believed that a directive was issued to schools in 2012 not to use corporal punishment but few teachers appear to know it had been made.

The Times of Swaziland reported in October 2015 that Phineas Magagula, Minister of Education and Training, warned that teachers who beat pupils should be reported to the ministry so that they could be disciplined.

As recently as June 2016 it was reported that a 20-year-old female school student had been given nine strokes of the cane on her buttocks at Herefords High School by the male principal. Police were informed.

See also

SWAZI SCHOOL ‘TORTURES’ STUDENTS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/09/swazi-school-tortures-students.html

 

CHILDREN CHAINED AND FLOGGED BARE

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/pupils-chained-and-flogged-bare.html

PROBE VICIOUS SCHOOL BEATINGS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/probe-vicious-school-beatings.html

 

SCHOOL FLOGGINGS OUT OF CONTROL

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/02/school-floggings-out-of-control.html

 

SCHOOL HEAD PUBLICLY FLOGS ADULTS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/02/school-head-publicly-flogs-adults.html

MASS CANING ‘VIOLATES HUMAN RIGHTS’

Save the Children Swaziland condemned teachers for beating all the children at a school after one pupil made a noise in assembly.

It said the school violated their human rights.

The mass caning happened at Lusoti Primary School. Parents have now asked the Ministry of Education and Training to investigate.

The Times of Swaziland newspaper reports that all pupils from the first to senior grades were beaten while at assembly, even though the child who made the noise was identified. 

The school’s principal, Khanyisile Shongwe, confirmed to the newspaper the incident happened.

The pupils were also reportedly made to stand under the scorching sun for an hour and ordered to sing and some pupils collapsed as a result of this. 

Dumisani Mnisi, director of Save the Children Swaziland,  said the way the corporal punishment was administered was unacceptable. He said it violated the human rights of the children.

There is a long history in Swaziland of the use by teachers of unusual forms of punishment in Swazi schools.

In October 2011, Save the Children told the United Nations Human Rights Periodic Review held in Geneva that corporal punishment in Swazi schools was out of control. It highlighted Mhlatane High School in northern Swaziland where it said pupils were ‘tortured’ in the name of punishment. It said, ‘Teachers can administer as many strokes [of the cane] as they desire, much against the limit stipulated in the regulations from the Ministry of Education.’ 

In a separate case, girls at Mpofu High School are flogged by teachers on their bare flesh and if they resist they are chained down so the beating can continue. They say they get up to 40 strokes at a time.  

In another case, a 10-year-old girl at kaLanga Nazarene Primary school was blinded for life in her left eye after a splinter from a teacher’s stick flew and struck it during punishment. And she was not the child being punished. She was injured when her teacher was hitting another pupil, with a stick which broke.  

Another pupil in Swaziland was thrashed so hard that he later collapsed unconscious and had to be rushed to a clinic. Six pupils at Mafucula High school were thrashed with 20 strokes of a ‘small log’ because they were singing in class. It was reported that the boy who became unconscious was not one of those misbehaving, but he was flogged nonetheless. 

The principal at Elangeni High, even publicly flogs adults who date pupils at his school. The men are forced to attend in front of the entire school, lie down on a bench and receive a whipping. The girls are also flogged.

See also

SWAZI SCHOOL ‘TORTURES’ STUDENTS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/09/swazi-school-tortures-students.html

 

CHILDREN CHAINED AND FLOGGED BARE

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/pupils-chained-and-flogged-bare.html

PROBE VICIOUS SCHOOL BEATINGS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/probe-vicious-school-beatings.html

 

SCHOOL FLOGGINGS OUT OF CONTROL

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/02/school-floggings-out-of-control.html

 

SCHOOL HEAD PUBLICLY FLOGS ADULTS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/02/school-head-publicly-flogs-adults.html

SWAZILAND. STOP FLOGGING CHILDREN

Swaziland has been told it should stop using corporal punishment in schools, because it violates the rights of children.

But the practice of whippings and floggings is so ingrained in Swazi schools that the top teachers’ union official said he was surprised that inflicting corporal punishment was against a child’s rights.

The United Nations Human Rights Periodic Review held in Geneva last week received a report jointly written by Save The Children and other groups that corporal punishment in Swazi schools was out of control. The report highlighted Mhlatane High School in northern Swaziland where it said pupils were ‘tortured’ in the name of punishment.

The report stated, ‘Students at this school are also subjected to all forms of inhumane treatment in the name of punishment. The State has known about the torture of students that go on at Mhlatane High School for a long time, but has not done anything to address this violation of fundamental rights.’

But Mhlatane is not the only school in Swaziland to use excessive corporal punishment. There have been numerous cases of children beaten so fiercely that they have needed hospital treatment.

According to a report in the Times of Swaziland today

(11 October 2011), countries which participated in the Human Rights Periodic Review supported the United States of America’s call for Swaziland to abolish corporal punishment.

The Times reported, ‘Not only did these countries raise concerns against corporal punishment in the country but they also came down hard on the country’s slow progress on children’s rights. The countries are said to have felt that corporal punishment is practised far too much in the country and that it directly infringes on children’s rights, hence the call for its abolishing.’

The Times also quoted Sibongile Mazibuko, President of the Swaziland National Association of Teachers (SNAT), saying as teachers they had been underestimating the impact corporal punishment has on children rights.

‘It came as a surprise what impact corporal punishment has in terms of violating children’s rights. In fact, we were not aware we are violating children’s rights. The submissions by the countries and the criticism received by the country during the meeting was an eye-opener that corporal punishment should be abolished,’ the Times quotes Mazibuko saying.

See also

SWAZI SCHOOL ‘TORTURES’ STUDENTS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/09/swazi-school-tortures-students.html

CHILDREN CHAINED AND FLOGGED BARE

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/pupils-chained-and-flogged-bare.html

PROBE VICIOUS SCHOOL BEATINGS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/probe-vicious-school-beatings.html

SCHOOL FLOGGINGS OUT OF CONTROL

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/02/school-floggings-out-of-control.html

SCHOOL HEAD PUBLICLY FLOGS ADULTS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/02/school-head-publicly-flogs-adults.html

SWAZI SCHOOL ‘TORTURES’ STUDENTS

Mhlatane High School in northern Swaziland has been accused by Save The Children of ‘using torture’ against its students.

It says corporal punishment is ‘institutionalised’ at Mhlatane and ‘teachers can administer as many strokes [of the cane] as they desire, much against the limit stipulated in the regulations from the Ministry of Education.

‘Students at this school are also subjected to all forms of inhumane treatment in the name of punishment. The State has known about the torture of students that go on at Mhlatane High School for a long time, but has not done anything to address this violation of fundamental rights.’

This revelation is made by Save The Children in a submission to the United Nations review on human rights in Swaziland.

It cites Mhlatane as the worst case, but says excessive corporal punishment is rife in Swazi schools.

Save The Children reports, ‘The hitting of students by teachers in schools is not limited to strokes of the cane, but includes such methods as a slap with the open hand, kicks and fists.

‘In one case in a school in the south of Swaziland, a young girl was kicked in the groin by her teacher after she refused to lift up her leg during physical education classes. She had told the teacher she cannot lift her leg up because she was wearing nothing underneath. This angered the teacher and earned the girl a kick in the groin.

‘The damage occasioned led to paralysis as the girl walks with difficulty today, and her menstrual cycle was disturbed since then. Although initially protected by the principal and other Ministry of Education officials in Nhlangano, the teacher was eventually arrested after intervention by the girl’s elder sister. The prosecution is still ongoing at the Nhlangano Magistrates Court.’

There is also what Save The Children calls ‘State sponsored torture of children’.

‘On New Year’s Day 2011, State police from the Sithobela and Siphofanenei police stations arrested a young girl of 18 years who was at the time seven months pregnant. The police had been told to arrest her on suspicion of having committed an abortion some two years earlier. The police were acting on information obtained from her father, who was not staying with her at the time. She was arrested and kept in custody for 29 hours.

‘During the interrogation, she was tortured, had police sit on her visibly bulging stomach and treated inhumanely. During these gruelling 29 hours, the heavily pregnant 18 year old was shuffled between two police stations, that is Sithobela and Siphofaneni, and subject to more torture. No charges were preferred against her.

‘In April 2010, a group of 49 Grade VI pupils were subjected to torture in the hands of police officers over missing money, E10 (approximately US$1.40).

‘The pupils from Malkerns Valley Primary School were ordered to do 200 squats in order to force the culprit to own up to stealing the money. The 200 squats were beyond the ability of children of this age (most of whom were on average 11 years old).

Save The Children goes on, ‘In November 2010, an 18-year old Grade VI pupil was tortured by State police from Bhunya Police Station on suspicion that he had killed another person.

As a result the young boy could hardly walk for two weeks, during which time he missed school. Police denied ever torturing the boy, but admitted to having ‘interviewed’ him. The boy stated that he was taken to the police station, where he was made to lie facing upwards on a bench, with his hands tied underneath. His head was then covered with a plastic bag just below the neck. One officer then sat on his chest, and told him to pat the bench when he wanted to speak.

‘He was also physically assaulted, kicked on the ribs, and beaten under the feet. He was later released and no charges were preferred against him. Police spokeswoman, Wendy Hleta was quick to State that the allegations of torture were unfounded. No investigations were launched into this matter.’

In its report Save The Children calls on the Swaziland Government to make corporal punishment in schools and society generally illegal.

See also

CHILDREN CHAINED AND FLOGGED BARE

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/pupils-chained-and-flogged-bare.html

PROBE VICIOUS SCHOOL BEATINGS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/03/probe-vicious-school-beatings.html

SCHOOL FLOGGINGS OUT OF CONTROL

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/02/school-floggings-out-of-control.html

SCHOOL HEAD PUBLICLY FLOGS ADULTS

http://swazimedia.blogspot.com/2011/02/school-head-publicly-flogs-adults.html