Take harsh action against teachers who hit pupils
CORPORAL punishment is any punishment in which physical force is used and intended to cause some degree of pain or discomfort, however light.
Hitting with a hand or an object (for example, a whip, stick, belt or hosepipe), kicking, grabbing or throwing, scratching, pinching, biting, pulling hair or boxing ears, forcing children to stay in uncomfortable positions and so on.
Is corporal punishment allowed? In 1996, the South African Schools Act, under Section 10, banned the
Suu Kyi is not actually in power
IS AUNG San Suu Kyi guilty?
We, here in South Africa, have the luxury of free speech, I can express my opinions in this paper without fear.
Is Aung San Suu Kyi in the same position? I doubt it. She is not actually in power, her party won an election, she did not. She got out of one prison, only to find herself in a new prison. She has become the face of the Rohingya tragedy.
Condemning her for not speaking out is based on a presumption that she can.
This presumption wrong. might JOHN DRAKE Winklespruit
Take strong action against Myanmar
I AM FURIOUS that with all the implosion in the ANC, the genocide of the Rohingyas takes a back seat. But I won’t be deterred.
I call upon the Department of International Relations and Co-operation to stop pussyfooting and to summons the Myanmar ambassador. Dirco must send him home with the message that unless the genocide in Myanmar stops and the culprits are apprehended and subjected to due process for crimes against humanity or handed over to the International Criminal Court, South Africa will institute diplomatic action.
Also recall Ruby Marks, our ambassador, for consultations. South Africa must be the first country to do so. SABER AHMED JAZBHAY
Newlands West
A sure sign universe is out of balance
MOST people who thought they had rational minds thought the Mayan end of the World prophecy for 2012 was just superstition and hype but current events show they did actually foresee a major catastrophe.
Just look at the tragedy in Myanmar for the Rohingya people who the government is persecuting; maybe the Mayans saw what would happen in Myanmar and wanted to try stop it?
The majority of Myanmar’s 52 million people are Buddhists whose religion and philosophy is focused on simply not letting one’s emotions and feelings influence them negatively, so for Buddhists to effect a Rohingya genocide level event is a sure sign the universe is seriously out of balance and our time on Earth might actually be about to end. ROBERT NICOLAI Howick
Rohingya not innocent victims
be READERS have condemned the treatment of the Muslim Rohingya of Myanmar for months.
In every piece, the image created is that of a peaceful, helpless minority that is being brutally treated by the Myanmar military with the agreement of both the Buddhist population and the Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. Many are calling for her peace prize to be rescinded.
Knowing little about this tragedy, I researched it. What I have found was interesting and unfortunate.
Questions need to be asked of The Mercury writers who have been repeatedly decrying the plight of the Rohingya. Why do these writers not mention the violent Rohingya attacks on Myanmar border posts in October 2016 and August 2017 that left 400 dead? And why do they not reveal that these attacks emanated from the Muslim “Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army” (Arsa) that is funded by Saudi Arabia?
Oddly, while the Rohingya are identified as Muslim Bengalis, Bangladesh now suddenly doesn’t want Rohingya refugees. It has accepted only 33 000.
This situation is possibly explained because Bangladesh has its own internal struggles with radical Muslim terrorists and simply doesn’t want any more foreign radicals entering the country?
The Islamist group Arsa is forcing all Rohingya males, even very young boys, to attack Rakhine BudTHE use of corporal schools.
In 2000 this was confirmed in the Christian Education case.
Despite the ban on corporal punishment 21 years ago, teachers are still hitting children at school.
According to our law, corporal punishment in schools is not allowed.
What to do when a learner has been corporally punished. Learners: If you or one of your classmates has been corporally punished, it is important to report it so that it does punishment in dhists and other civilians and to provoke the Myanmar army to commit violent acts.
This group has been getting the usual “spiritual” funding from Saudi Arabia, weapons from Islamic countries like Pakistan and Malaysia, and its training from alQaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan.
The Myanmar military is no doubt responding to this terrorism harshly, going as far as to execute militants extrajudicially and burn down numerous Rohingya villages.
The Buddhist religion is normally peaceful – picture the Dalai Lama – but it reacts in self-defence when attacked viciously. Of the 135 minorities in Myanmar, why has the Muslim minority in Myanmar so annoyed its rulers? It is not totally innocent and it has unfortunately decided to anger a tough military Junta. There will be no black flags flying in Myanmar as there has been in the Philippines. J AMALDEV Winklespruit
Themi Venturas was talented and giving
ABOUT two years ago, I told a friend that if there was anyone in Durban who deserved an honorary doctorate for work done in the disadvantaged community, it had to be Themi Venturas.
Themi quietly went on and acquired a master’s degree from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, with a first-class pass. I never quite got down to submitting that application and this is why I am writing this letter. It is a letter of regret – that I didn’t do the right thing.
Themi passed away on Monday evening – a victim of pancreatic cancer. But his legacy will live on not happen again. It helps if you can talk to someone you trust to help you with reporting.
The steps below explain the different ways in which you must report an incident.
Step 1: Report the matter via the principal, provided the principal is not implicated in the matter. If the principal is implicated, report directly to the departments of Social Services and of Basic Education
Step 2: All incidents of corporal punishment must be reported to the SAPS so that a case of assault can be TELL THE EDITOR
Please include your name, address and telephone number. The right to edit, or publish submissions, which should be no longer than 350 words, is reserved. Pseudonyms will be published only in exceptional circumstances. – as Durban’s most accomplished theatrical director.
Talented, brilliant, but more especially giving – he was a champion of his community. His list of students includes the likes of Lulu Gontsana, Zim Ngqawana, Feya Faku, Jerry Kunene, Brian Thusi, Concod Nkabinde, Johnny Mekoe, Victor Masondo, Thabani Ngubane, Nothando Mbanda, Kenneth Kambule and Mzwandile Kamaung.
He directed more than 500 productions over 30 years and is remembered as someone who strove and achieved excellence in all his endeavours. Hamba kahle, Themi, that posthumous doctorate awaits you. ROBBIE NAIDOO Durban opened against the educator.
Step 3: You must lodge a complaint with Sace.
Educators are legally required to report incidents of corporal punishment, and must follow the same steps.
Parents, third parties and community members should also be empowered to report corporal punishment.
I strongly agree with the KZN Education Department’s spokesperson, Kwazi Mthethwa, who said the department and relevant parties
Finding ourselves by helping others
THE article “Hospital scores as mental health patients fix wheelchairs” (The Mercury, Tuesday) refers.
The enterprise to repair wheelchairs must be commended.
The positive social impact and dynamic of such an exercise far outweighs the monetary savings.
As always, people and role players who have genuine concern for the well-being of those within their community bring welcome consequences.
This is what ubuntu is all about – “a person is a person through others”. MEDIA DESK Darul Ihsan Centre
Constitution sold whites down river
I REFER to the lengthy article by Professor George Devenish in The Mercury on Tuesday in which he or departments will be taking harsh action against the perpetrator, because they want to send a clear message that corporal punishment will not be tolerated in schools and learning facilities.
At the moment we have heard about those teachers who have been suspended from school as a result of this action and as the community we want to be updated on what will happen after the full investigation has been finalised. NOKWANDA KHUZWAYO
EMlazi claims South Africa’s problems are the fault of the ANC, not our constitution.
Since he was one of the “scholars” who helped draft the interim constitution, is he likely to admit its authors made mistakes?
Most of the authors were probably drawn from the ANC, so they have only themselves to blame for what has since transpired.
And most of these “scholars” – we don’t know anything about their CVs – were obsessed with producing a constitution that was acceptable to the black majority, regardless of how much that hurt whites.
The mere title BEE, which is clearly based on clause 9 (2) of our Bill of Rights, is an admission of racist intent and has been vigorously implemented in that way, and the legislation on the “expropriation of white-owned land” is blatantly racist, subsequently rendered rapist by the recent cancellation of the “willing buyer, willing seller” principle originally attached.
Furthermore, all these aggressively racist laws have no “sunset” clause, which in effect, is a form of genocide.
Rather than being mainly concerned with popularity when writing our constitution, these “scholars” should have ensured that a clause to the following effect was included in the Bill of Rights.
“The selection of people for managerial and other important positions will be based entirely on proven merit, rather than colour.” This would have forestalled much of the corruption and gross incompetence, which have ruined our economy.
Our constitution succeeded in its intent to sell whites down the river forever, thus guaranteeing a South African disaster. ROGER LAYZEL Rosehill