Experts agree there is no room in the South African justice system for corporal punishment.
Correctional services minister Pieter Groenewald sparked intense debate last week when he floated the idea in parliament of reinstating corporal punishment, mainly as a way of reducing the number of prisoners.
According to figures from the department of correctional services, about 50% of the country's prisons are overcrowded. Groenewald’s suggestion of corporal punishment specifically referred to prisoners accused of minor crimes who could not afford bail of R1,000 or less.
Dr Zaid Kimmie, director of the Foundation for Human Rights, said Groenewald's suggestions would not work.
“I feel awkward even considering such a frankly insane idea. This idea deserves to live in the early 1700s, not in 2025,” Kimmie told TimesLIVE Premium.
“This is the same as saying maybe we should bring back torture.”
“How can we even consider flogging for minor crimes before we look at why people are committing these crimes? Are we going to bring flogging back next? What then, the death penalty for particularly heinous crimes, and then eventually the death penalty back full time?” Kimmie said.
“We need to look at realistic, practical solutions for the problem of overcrowding, not Victorian ones.”
Dr Casper Lotter, a researcher at North West University specialising in the confluence between philosophy and conflict criminology, agrees that corporal punishment is not the answer but cautions that it is not impossible for it to be brought back.
“It [the constitution] can be amended with a two-thirds majority. Laws can change, so we can’t just write off the possibility” Lotter said this week.
Lotter believes alternative sentencing is the way forward.
“We need a kinder approach, because what we are doing is not working. We have one of the highest recidivism rates in the world. Nine out of 10 sentenced prisoners come back to prison at some stage. You could say rehabilitation is redundant in the South African prison system.”
“We are currently 53% overcrowded. The minister used the example of someone arrested for stealing bread being the type to get corporal punishment instead of incarceration, to lighten the load on the system.
“With respect, this is just more criminalising of the poor. We should rather look at the reasons that person has for stealing the bread and spend our energies on fixing that, then the rest will be redundant,” Lotter said.
He sees only one fix for the problem of overcrowded prisons — scaling down imprisonment.
“Sending fewer people to prison is the only answer. The ones we do send are not rehabilitated and return to society upskilled in crime but with a stigma that never leaves them.”
Imprisonment is not the African way, he said.
“It was imported from Europe as a way to keep the natives in cheque. This system is outdated and doesn’t work on a continent with so much inequality.
“There are more Africa-centric ways to handle correctional services. More outside services like working on our roads or in our old-age homes. As it stands, being poor is criminalised in South Africa.”
Prof Robert Peacock of the University of the Free State's criminology department said even the partial return of institutionalised violence or corporal punishment would be directly in conflict with the values of the constitution, particularly regarding its commitment to human dignity, equality and freedom.
“The South African constitution enshrines these values as foundational to our democratic society based on human rights and the rule of law. Corporal punishment with its legacy of authoritarian apartheid-era discipline would be incompatible since it is in its execution inherently violent and cruel, classist and racist while the South Africa’s constitution is transformative, seeking to heal the past and build a society based on democratic values and social justice,” said Peacock.
“Corporal punishment is a legacy of authoritarian, apartheid-era discipline and is incompatible with a society striving for compassion, mutual respect, justice and freedom from violence.
“To use corporal punishment as a measure suggested by the honourable minister to lessen the pressure of an overcrowded prison system especially when it comes to individuals accused of minor crimes and those who can’t afford bail, runs counter to the very right to be presumed innocent until proven guilty, a core principle of natural justice and a cornerstone of fair legal systems worldwide.
“It serves to protect individuals from unjust punishment as advocated by the minister and ensures that legal proceedings are conducted with fairness, impartiality and respect for human rights,” Peacock said.
Correctional services spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo confirmed the overcrowded state of South African prisons.
“The approved accommodation is 107,067 and the inmate population was 163,618 — 104,802 sentenced, 58,491 remand detainees, 325 state patients and no involuntary mental health care users — as reported on June 24 2025 which translates to an overcrowding level of 53%,” Nxumalo said.
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