The LRF Newsletter

Mr Banda told the paralegal officer at the centre, Mary Chisanga, that on 19th April this year a Mr Mulenga who was at that time a teacher at Kamanga Primary School canned his son.

The canning caused the boy to have swollen legs and a backache. He said his son was admitted to the University Teaching Hospital (UTH) on April 24th and died on the 28th of the same month. The post-mortem results showed that the canning caused the death of the boy.

A pupil at Kafue Boys Secondary School who sought anonymity told LRF that at their school teachers and prefects still use corporal punishment. He said pupils do not know that corporal punishment was abolished.

Lusaka High Court Judge Elliot Chuulu declared null and void the section 24(c) and section27 of the Penal Code Chapter 87 of the laws of Zambia which provides for corporal punishment last year in November. This was in a case in which a Lusaka lawyer, Henry Chanda, appealed on behalf of John Banda who was sentenced to 10 strokes of the cane for malicious damage to government property.

The arguments he used were that the section, which provides for corporal punishment contravenes Article 15 of the Zambian constitution, the supreme law of the land, which states that no person shall be subjected to inhuman or degrading punishment. The abolishment meant that the two sections have ceased to exist in the laws of Zambia and any other provisions of corporal punishment are also null and void.

Principal Inspector of Schools Ilya Wamulwange at the Ministry of Education said corporal punishment is still practised in schools. He said the Ministry follows the Education Act of 1966, which allows corporal punishment to be used as a form of punishment in schools. He said even if corporal punishment is allowed in schools, it should be done under outlined guidelines. “When a teacher is using corporal punishment, there should be a witness present when the punishment is being given. The punishment used should be recorded in a book together with the offence committed and the date, many teachers ignore these guidelines,” he said.

Wamulwange said the Ministry is aware of the High Court ruling but there is debate in the Ministry whether to follow the High Court ruling or the Education Act. He said the Ministry has however proposed a Bill to abolish all forms of corporal punishment. In the meantime, the Ministry has advised all Headmasters not to use corporal punishment in their schools.

Commenting on the matter LRF intern Paul Mulenga said all teachers executing corporal punishment are doing it illegally because this is not in line with the current position of the law which states that corporal punishment is illegal in all its forms. He said even the Education Act, which allows corporal punishment no longer stands because the High court ruling has the effect of invalidating the Education Act in so far as it provides for corporal punishment.