CAPE TOWN - Reactions on social media to the The Constitutional Court ruling on corporal punishment at home on has been "spanking" brilliant. South Africans have taken to Twitter to voice their thoughts on the ConCourt's ruling that corporal punishment at home is unconstitutional. In case you missed it, the Constitutional Court upheld a South Gauteng High Court ruling declaring corporal punishment at home unconstitutional. In a unanimous judgment, the ConCourt ruled that the common law defence of reasonable and moderate parental chastisement of children is unconstitutional. The court said it was of the view that there are effective ways to discipline children without the use of corporal punishment. The case landed in the ConCourt after the high court in 2017 found the defence of reasonable chastisement to be unconstitutional in a matter related to a father who had been found guilty of assaulting his 13-year old son for watching pornography. The high court found that the defence that allows parents to physically discipline their children violates children’s rights and that the protection of children from all forms of violence is critical in our context of alarmingly high levels of violence against children. Freedom of Religion SA’s argument was that parents should be given the right to discipline their children without the interference of the state. The group said the judgment was going to have dire effects on families. Legal advisor Daniela Ellerbeck said: “It’s really serious because, as a result, good parents only want what’s best for their children [and] we could potentially see families torn apart as a result of this.” Ellerbeck said they had always been against abuse, but they believed punishing children did more good. “There was a lot of research that we put in front of the court that showed that moderate and reasonable discipline can have positive effects on children,” she said. The ConCourt insisted the Constitution made provision for other ways of discipline and those should be used. ‘VICTORY FOR CHILDREN'S RIGHTS’ Meanwhile, civil rights groups said the ruling by the ConCourt was a victory for children’s rights as it allowed for adults to be held accountable for their abuse of children. NGO Sonke Gender Justice’s Wessel van den Berg agreed with this. “Punishment is not an effective way to parent but if you use positive discipline, things like when a child gets emotional, you give them an opportunity to come down or giving them a time out,” he said. Professor Shanaaz Mathews, from the Children’s Institute at the University of Cape Town, said effects of corporal punishment were long-lasting and detrimental to children’s development. “Children are more likely to be aggressive in their own peer-on-peer [interactions], and we see those young children then are aggressive with their own peers. They use increased levels of fighting and peer-on-peer violence as they get older”