In playgrounds, WhatsApp groups and school corridors across South Africa, bullying is leaving devastating emotional scars on children. Bullying, long dismissed as a “rite of passage,” is now an entrenched crisis, one that schools, families and government can no longer afford to ignore. Dr Siki Gwanya-Mdletye, Member of the South African Society of Psychiatrists, chats to Leigh-Anne Williams about how rampant bullying has become in South African schools, and why it is an urgent issue that needs to be addressed.