16 Dec 2014

Ngamiland assistant district commissioner, Mr Mogotsi Madome, has said emotional abuse in women and children is normally overlooked.

Speaking during the closing ceremony of 16 days of activism against Gender Based Violence (GBV) organised by Women Against Rape (WAR) in Maun recently, Mr Madome cautioned parents against name calling of children, saying it perpetuated emotional abuse.

He said peace in the world could only be achieved if there was peace at homes, adding, “there is need to strengthen the moral fiber at homes for peace to spread to the community, churches and the world.

He further said cohabitation was a key factor in GBV and that it was normally difficult to address abuse under such circumstances. Mr Madome therefore said women should not give men privileges before marriage to reduce issues of abuse. In her remarks the Maun magistrate, Ms Phandliwe Taka said some criminal cases were embedded in issues of abuse.

Ms Taka said cases of people who reported their partners for child maintenance or issues of people denying their partners access to children had financial abuse of partners as the underlying factor.

She pointed out that it was a concern that although statistics said two out of three women were abused, only a few of the cases of GBV went before the courts. However, she said the court realized that GBV was the underlying factor of cases of maintenance and they referred such people to relevant authorities.

The WAR coordinator, Ms Peggy Ramaphane said issues of child marriages were still rampant in the Ngamiland region.

Ms Ramaphane said boys were also exposed to sexual violence like their girl counterparts but normally feared to report or speak out. She said the purpose of the dialogue was to challenge stakeholders and policy makers to introspect their role in response to violence in the country.

The event was attended by stakeholders from the Botswana Police Service, Botswana Prisons Service, and Department of Tribal Administration and others. ENDS