07 Dec 2016

Superintendent Constantine Chilambampani of Letlhakane police says Gender Based Violence (GBV) is becoming habitual among Batswana with alarming statistics of rape and assault.

Superintendent Chilambampani was speaking at the Botswana Council of Women (BCW) workshop in Letlhakane recently.

He raised a concern that issues of violence were not reported on time or not reported at all, meaning that the available statistics might not to be an actual depiction of the reality on the ground.

This, he said, made it difficult for the police to measure the gender based violence accurately.

He said the leading recorded cases were of rape and assault common, adding that in 2014 about 91 2015 rape cases were reported while in 2016 they were 192.

The statistics of assault common indicated that in 2014 there were 204 cases, 2015 the cases were 252 and those of 2016 are 218.

However, the statistics of 2016 could increase with the forthcoming festive season. Supt Chilambampani added that most of the perpetrators escape the good intention of the law because of the victim’s silence, mercy, self-blame and dependence for survival.

According to Reginald Thotobolo, BCW member, women do not report violence against them because often it is committed by strangers and people they know very well as breadwinners and lovers.

Ms Thotobolo said that bread winners abuse women knowing that they would not leave them because without them survival would be futile for the women.

The Botswana Council of Women and the Men’s sector agreed that gender based violence was everyone’s problem to solve and its tolerance level must be kept at zero so as to protect and educate the future generations of Batswana.

People were urged to participate fully on raising awareness on GBV and to always have their purple ribbons with them because all the little initiatives were a milestone to combating gender based violence. ENDS