It seems to me that many of the violence problems of Africa stem from the fact that many parts of Africa have continued to use corporal punishment in schools.
PTAVE (Parents and Teachers Against Violence in Education) have these questions and answers on their website
Q: What do virtually all juvenile delinquents have in common?
A: They have been raised by spankers.
Q: What was a common feature of the childhoods of Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, Saddam Hussein and Charles Manson?
A: Each one was relentlessly, severely, physically punished.
Q: What do most prisoners on death row have in common?
A: Plenty of spankings during childhood.
Q: What do rapists, arsonists, terrorists, torturers, serial killers, mass murderers, suicide bombers, kidnappers, snipers,
assassins, muggers, vandals, spouse batterers and stalkers have in common?
A: Violent upbringing.
Q: Which child is destined never to join the company of felons?
A: One who is raised in a nurturing, attentive, supportive, non-spanking family.
I wondered if President Robert Mugabe could fall into the abused category, so I looked up his schooling on the internet: It says: Mugabe was raised as a Roman Catholic, studying in Marist Brothers and Jesuit schools, including the exclusive Kutama College,
Now I have spoken to people from this sort of school and they were often beaten mercilessly there, and so it seems likely this happened to Mugabe.
Fortunately Cardinal Hume and The Catholic Education Council came out against corporal punishment in the 1980s as reported by STOPP (Society of Teachers Opposed To Physical Punishment) and so have other church bodies (for example The South African Council of Churches had a statement against it on their website).
In my belief much of the violence would come to an end if there was some cathartic endeavour when it comes to the old psychological and physical injuries of corporal punishment.
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