24 Oct 2023

Ntlo ya Dikgosi has adopted a motion requesting government to consider amending Criminal Procedure (Corporal Punishment) Regulations, to allow administration of corporal punishment on the back, instead of the buttocks.

Tabling the motion Monday, before the House, Kgosi Lotlaamoreng II of Barolong said it was crucial for corporal punishment to be administered on the back, instead of the buttocks, as that would serve the intended purpose of the punishment.

“No one has ever died from getting a few lashes on the back. Instead that will help address the overgrowing misconducts within our societies. Administering corporal punishment on the back is the best way, as it will help to restore order, unlike on the buttocks,” he said.

Regulation 3 of the Criminal Procedure (Corporal Punishment) Regulations, stipulates that corporal punishment shall be administered on bare buttocks only, and on no other part of the body, was drafted after due consultation and medical consideration and advertisement.

In his response, on behalf of the Minister of Justice, Mr Machana Shamukuni, Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Mabuse Pule, said corporal punishment was one of the various forms of punishment that a court could dispense, as established by Section 25 (c) of the Penal Code.

For that reason, Mr Pule said there were further safeguards put in place when administering corporal punishment to ensure that the said punishment was not dangerously injurious. 

Examples of such safeguards, or precautionary measures, he said, were listed in the Penal Code and the Criminal Procedure and Evidence Act, respectively.

“Section 28 of the Penal Code provides that no sentence of corporal punishment shall be passed upon any females or passed upon males who are over 40 years of age. 

Section 305 (a) provides that corporal punishment shall only be inflicted on persons who have been certified by a medical practitioner to be fit for such punishment,” the assistant minister added.

A further requirement, under Section 305 (b), he said was that such punishment be inflicted in the presence of a medical officer, or, if one was not available, in the presence of a magistrate.

Therefore, he stressed that a medical doctor or magistrate, as the case may be, was authorised to stop the infliction of further punishment if he considered that the convicted person was not in a fit state of health to undergo the remainder of the punishment.

“In which case a certificate shall be transmitted to the court which passed the sentence or to a court of competent jurisdiction to substitute corporal punishment with another punishment,” he added. ends