SES VANNIE AN GOD BESTES JANJ AK MAG ONER WOUN TRIES

Corrections Minister believes lyfstraf for minor criminals who can't afford bail will fix the oorvol tronke

- BY VOICE REPORTER

CORRECTIONAL Services Minister Pieter Groenewald has put forward the suggestion of corporal punishment to be reintroduced as part of the national debate on crime and justice reform in South Africa.

Speaking during his budget vote debate in Parliament, Groenewald laid bare the depth of the crisis facing the Department of Correctional Services (DCS), pointing to overcrowded prisons, deteriorating infrastructure, and a strained parole system.

Groenewald turned to a controversial but deliberate proposal: the reinstatement of corporal punishment.

He said: “We must start a debate to say, shouldn’t we bring back corporal punishment?”