NGCOBO J as perjury, he shall be deemed to have committed that offence, and shall, upon conviction, be liable to such punishment as is by law provided as a punishment for that offence.” [164] Section 164(1) allows a court to allow a person, who does not understand the nature or the importance of an oath or a solemn affirmation, to give evidence without taking an oath or making an affirmation. However, the proviso to the subsection requires the presiding officer to admonish the person to speak the truth. It is implicit, if not explicit, in the proviso that the person must understand what it means to speak the truth. The High Court was concerned about a child who is unable to distinguish between the concepts of truth and falsehood. If the child does not understand what it means to speak the truth, the child cannot be admonished to speak the truth and is therefore an incompetent witness.122 The child cannot testify. Such a child was the concern of the High Court. The problem with the subsection, the court held, is that it does not take into account that a child who, because of his or her age, may not be able to understand the abstract concepts of truth and falsehood, but may nevertheless be perfectly able to convey what happened to him or her.123 [165] The practice followed in courts is for the judicial officer to question the child in order to determine whether the child understands what it means to speak the truth. As pointed out above, some of these questions are very theoretical and seek to determine the child’s understanding of the abstract concepts of truth and falsehood. The questioning may at times be very confusing and even terrifying for a child. The result 122 S v V 1998 (2) SACR 651 (C) at 652G-653B. 123 Above n 10 at para 139. 83