Two videos of the male teacher dishing out ses van die bestes at Steenberg High School has gone viral on social media, with over 16 000 views.
The teacher can be seen whacking a boy on his bum with what looks like a wooden stick.
The video was filmed by another learner at the back of the classroom.
The teacher counts out the houe, and with each one, noisy learners laugh, while the punished boy screams and hops around, rubbing his bum.
The boy is made to count the whacks, and the teacher says: “When I get to five, I am adding another one.”
Jessica Shelver, spokesperson for the MEC of Education in the Western Cape Debbie Schäfer, said the WCED “strongly condemns” the act of corporal punishment in the classroom, which is illegal in South Africa.
“The WCED has zero tolerance for corporal punishment which is a form of assault. Our District Officials will investigate,” Shelver said on Sunday.
The videos were posted on Facebook on 7 September by Deno Swartz, who wrote: “This is what’s going on at Steenberg High with our kids when parents think our kids are safe! Corporal punishment has been formally prohibited since 1997 in South African schools, I think that this is wrong, how do you feel about this, please share.(sic)”
The videos received mixed reactions from the public but it seems the majority of social media users disagreed with Swartz, saying that corporal punishment should be reinstated at schools “because children today are just too disrespectful”.
Grant Dorian Koopman said: “He shouldn’t moer them man. Let them get away with being disrespectful, not doing their homework, smoking, he should just leave them to their own devices and let them become gangsters and druggies. Then everyone who is against this can cry over that also.”