15 Nov 2020

Parents should be the ones applying corporal punishment whenever their children are brought before customary courts. 

Balete paramount chief, Kgosi Mosadi said this in Taung on November 12 during a farewell ceremony for Kgosi Louis Nkwe, who was a headman of records.

Kgosi Mosadi said she was against the idea of dikgosi whipping children in the presence of their parents.

On the contrary, she said parents should be given the stick to whip their children. 

She said the current practice only served to demonise the bogosi institution among the young generation.

She said allowing parents to whip their children at the customary court would be a message enough to the child to never disrespect their parents.

The Balete kgosikgolo said parents and bogosi should perform their roles in the community without overstepping their responsibilities. Kgosi Mosadi said it was upon parents to bring their children to order and raise them into responsible adults with the help of bogosi.

Furthermore, she said bogosi would continue to offer guidance and counseling, but should not be deemed to be the only sole custodian of punishing wayward children. 

Also, Kgosi Mosadi said bogosi would not shy away from applying corporal punishment on those charged with criminal behaviour.

The Balete paramount chief also called upon the community to live together in harmony and avoid unnecessary family disputes.

She added that most of the disputes brought before the customary courts could be resolved if involved parties displayed love and respect. 

Kgosi Mosadi said dikgosi had been tasked with promoting the welfare of their respective communities.

 However, she pointed out that such responsibility was often overshadowed by presiding over community disputes such as family conflicts.

As such, she said community disputes overloaded dikgosi, which resulted in compromising the promotion of community welfare.

Kgosi Mosadi said issues such as education, health and community empowerment were core to the duties of bogosi. 

Therefore, she called on the community members to learn to seat down and discuss issues and resolve them amicably and lived in peace with one another. Ends