Footage of woman 'beating nursery children' goes viral in South Africa

A woman in South Africa has been arrested after videos surfaced appearing to show a person hitting children and forcing them to clean.

One clip shows a woman shouting at a girl who appears to have vomited, before hitting her on the head.

The footage was filmed in Johannesburg a year ago but has re-emerged, the BBC's Pumza Fihlani reports.

Local media report that some parents have removed their children from the nursery since seeing the viral post.

As well as hitting the young child, the woman is also seen smacking her on her bottom and repeatedly asking her: "Why are you vomiting? Why?"

Twitter users were quick to condemn the woman. One person replied "my heart sank", while another posted: "Wow you don't understand how much this brings tears to my eyes, poor baby."

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Some also questioned why the person filming failed to step in and stop the beatings.

One of the strongest social media responses came from the regional education minister, Panyaza Lesufi, who was tagged in the video.

"Disgusting!!! I couldn't even finish watching it!" he wrote, before tagging his colleagues and adding: "Let's hunt this creche! I am [on] standby to pounce just get details."

The South African Department of Social Development also tweeted about the incident, saying they "condemn the abuse of children" before appealing for more information.

Officials from the organisation also reportedly visited the school on Thursday to carry out an assessment.

A lawyer for the nursery told Eyewitness News that the person who filmed the video has been reported to child protection services, and that the woman in the footage had already been dismissed.