22 Dec 2016

Police recently marched on the streets of Molepolole  to sensitise residents about crime and how to protect themselves and their properties this festive season.

The Boribamo East Cluster chairperson, Mr Mosamaria Gasefetoge said it was due to crime activities in the area that they found it necessary to organise the march so that they could dialogue with residents and come up with solutions on how to uproot the evil monster from their homes and community.

He said in Molepolole they were troubled by excessive use of drugs and alcohol, which was the root of all social ills such as abuse in the home, rape, burglary and accidents on roads.

Kweneng District Council chairman, Mr Jeoffrey Sibisibi said Molepolole, followed by Kanye and Lobatse were the hardest hit by crime in the southern region. The root cause of these crimes was often drugs and alcohol abuse.

Statistics from police showed that burglary was the most prevalent in Molepolole as there were 156 cases reported in 2015 while 201 were  reported so far this year. A total of 156 rape cases were reported last year whereas 94 cases have been reported this year.

A total of 21 murder cases were reported last year whereas 28 have been reported so far. In addition, 47 cases of threat to kill were recorded last year whereas 51 has been recorded this year.

There were 19 defilement cases last year and 21 have already been reported this year. There were nine fatal accidents last year in comparison to 12 that have been recorded this year.

Mr Sibisibi said high crime levels were not good for the economy of the country as money is spent on fighting crime and maintaining prisons rather than developing the country and its people.

Chairperson of Arekopaneng Youth Support Group from an anti-alcohol and substance abuse committee, Mr Boitshoko Ditlhobolo urged the public to change the culture of associating the festive season with excessive drinking and lawlessness.

He encouraged parents to change this mentality as children often copy their behavior and may turn out to be alcohol abusers in the future too.

Mr Ditlhibolo said it was safer and healthier to drink water, further pointing out that it is still right to drink water rather than alcohol during the festive season.

He said only if people could stop taking alcohol and drink water for a change, reported cases of rape, road accidents, killings and abuse in the home would go down drastically.

Mr Andrew Selwe from Man Sector pointed out that prisons were faced with overcrowding due to an escalating number of gender based abuse cases. ENDS