How to make a difference in South Africa: part 1

So often I hear people from across the spectrum in South Africa say that they love this country and want to make a positive difference but they don’t know how. This blog is part 1 of 3 about how you, as a regular citizen in South Africa, can make an incredibly positive difference in our country. The first step you need to take to make a change in South Africa is to decide that you will vote. One of the most tragic things I hear is that people say they will not vote as it is a waste of time. Despite all the problems within democracy, the one incredible power it has is that the government truly is a government of the people. The citizens of a country decide the make up of the government. Your vote may seem small, but when added together with others it has incredible power for change. It is easy to find out if you are registered to vote; SMS your ID number to the Independent Electoral Commission’s (IEC) SMS number 32810 (R1 per SMS). They will SMS you straight back with your registration details. Our National Elections will be in April next year and the first voting drive will be on the weekend of the 9th and 10th of November 2013. With this voting drive you will be able to register at the voting station closest to where you live. If you cannot register on the 9th or 10th of November you can register at any municipal electoral office in your area, you just need to call first to make an appointment. For more info please take a minute to check the IEC website, it is very clear, and easy to navigate: http://www.elections.org.za/content/ What is very important is that South Africans living abroad can vote too. For details check http://www.elections.org.za/content/For-Voters/How-do-I-register-/ I appeal to you, if you want to make a real, powerful difference, make sure you are registered and use your vote. Do it for yourself, for those who fought for our democracy and for this country.

Remove the emotion from the 'spanking children' debate

There is a mighty furore going on over the government looking to change legislation banning parents from spanking their children. Recently Pierre de Vos wrote an article explaining the constitutional implications of this (http://constitutionallyspeaking.co.za/sparing-the-rod-what-it-really-entails/), I feel that maybe there is another angle that we need to be looking at. While I am in agreement that the argument ‘it is in the bible’ is problematic, there are problems with the current line of argument as well. In his article, Mr de Vos states that South Africa has such a high rate of child abuse and thus a big driver for the banning of spanking by parents is to reduce child abuse. While I agree with this in principle, there are some glaring issues. Firstly, Mr de Vos does not state any evidence to reduction of abuse when child spanking is removed. If we are to be scientific, studies need to be done on countries where child spanking by parents ahs been outlawed and do a correlation of child abuse from before and after the banning. Secondly, it is problematic for me to ban something outright if a few people are abusing it. That line of argument taken to its end would say that rape is prevalent in South Africa and so we should ban sex, or that teachers take advantage of students so we should ban teachers. Personally, I would like to see in-depth studies done in countries where child spanking by parents has been banned to study the consequences. It would be interesting to see the rate of juvenile delinquency, social service intervention in children, discipline in schools, violence in schools, violence against the aged etc in these communities. Once we have an accurate assessment of the social implications, then maybe we can decide, scientifically, if banning parents from spanking their children is feasible in South Africa. If we are to introduce such legislation into South Africa I feel we need to take a more scientific approach, rather than an emotional agenda pushed by minority groups in South Africa.