11 Nov 2015

The Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Slumber Tsogwane, says children are the greatest asset that any country can have.

Giving a keynote address at a workshop on child participation for members of Ntlo ya Dikgosi, Mr Tsogwane said the ambitions of any nation could only be realised through the ambitions of its future leaders. 

“Children’s rights are not a threat to the culture of respect or the cohesion of society nor are the concept foreign as often believed,” Minister Tsogwane added.

He stated that children should  not be viewed as objects or property but should be  recognised   as individuals with democratic rights.

He said it was important for all young people to learn to participate in programmes, which directly affected their lives hence convention on the rights of the child that Botswana was a signatory to.

Mr Tsogwane said children held little power in institutional processes and were unable to vote, less likely than adults to organise powerful lobby groups to advocate opinions and influence decision making.

He further stated that children were rarely consulted in a meaningful way about decisions that would affect their lives and had less recourse to challenge decisions that adversely affected their interests.

He said dikgosi played a critical role in empowering their communities, hence applauding UNICEF for organising the workshop.

In his remarks chairperson of Ntlo ya Dikgosi Kgosi Puso stated that it was important for UNICEF and dikgosi to work together for children’s rights.

Kgosi Puso said children issues varied from district to district therefore each community faced its own unique challenges.

He said the workshop gave dikgosi a chance to strike a balance in solving parents and children matters as there instances where some parents believed children were given rights that supersede d theirs.

“Dikgosi play an important role in moulding society and driving government programmes therefore this workshop gives us an opportunity to be educated on pertinent issues.”

UNICEF country representative Ms Vidhya Ganesh stated that the organisation recognised dikgosi as important partners in fighting for children’s rights.

She highlighted that gathering dikgosi built partnership and offered them an opportunity to share experiences. Ms Ganesh said views of a child should be respected, therefore children needed to be given platform to be heard. Ends