07 Mar 2016

Chobe District has successfully hosted the One Billion Rising campaign against gender based violence (GBV) for the second time this year, with the latest held in Kazungula.

One Billion Rising is a mass action campaign to end violence against women across the world with global statistics indicating that one in three women on the planet will be raped or beaten in her lifetime and this number translated to one billion women, hence the name of the campaign.

Disturbingly in Botswana, the probability of a woman experiencing some form of gender based violence in her lifetime is much higher than the global figures.

Statistics indicate that two out of three women in Botswana are more likely to experience GBV, which represents 67 per cent of women.  

As such, this year’s campaign used dance, poems, songs, motivational talks and drama to continue spreading a strong message against GBV, which has also been a challenge for Chobe district.

Constable Kesegofetse Keitumetse of Kasane Police shared that in the previous two months from January to February, the district had a record of 17 common assault cases, in which most of the victims are women.

“Last year for the whole year, we registered 78 common assault incidents for the entire year,” she said, adding that they were however concerned at the rate at which such cases were being withdrawn especially by women.

She noted that women tend to focus more on the consequences of having their spouse prosecuted than focusing on the consequences of the abuse. Speaking at the event, Kazungula Kgosi Mokwena Balemogeng said hosting this campaign could not have come at a better time as his village was grappling with increased incidents of GBV.

“As such we must not talk the talk, but we must live the talk,” he said.

With the involvement of Botswana Defence Force (BDF), primary and secondary school students, government departments, non-governmental organisations, the business community, local artists and community leaders, this year’s commemoration was earmarked to be bigger and more inclusive of different sectors in raising awareness about GBV.

This year, Chobe artistes collaborated to record a song titled Shoko, which is a fusion of five languages namely Sesubiya, Sehambukushushu, Setswana, English and Seyei.

Despite technical glitches with the sound system, the song was unveiled and made an official debut at the gathering as had been envisaged in languages that residents could relate with.

The song is a call for action against GBV, narrating Shoko’s story of suffering abuse.

Commenting on the event, nominated councillor, Ms Bamphithetse Judge said that there is need to intensify house to house campaigns with the involvement of community leaders, especially councillors.

She also emphasised the need to involve men in effectively fighting GBV. Coordinated by the Department of Gender Affairs, the campaign is a collaborative effort of various departments, Non-governmental organisations, artistes, among others.  Ends