07 Feb 2017

The Evangelical Fellowship of Botswana (EFB) and Mochudi police recently joined forces to pray against the high and worrisome statistics of murder, suicide and road accidents in Mochudi and surrounding villages.

When addressing the mass prayer drive in Mochudi, the Minister of Basic Education Dr Unity Dow commended stakeholders for the initiative.

She said this illustrated concern about lives that were cut short hence the need for someone to bring it to an end.

“The church saw it fit to organise a mass prayer where all churches come together and pray seeking God’s intervention so that people’s lives are saved,” she said.

Minister Dow said drunken driving, overspeeding on roads and murder continued to steal the lives of  loved ones.

Therefore, she said education played a critical role in helping deal with the matter and encouraged parents to raise their children responsibly.

Dr Dow also discouraged parents who worsened the situation by selling drugs and alcohol to young children which ended up destroying their lives.

She said all stakeholders needed to work together to find a solution to these problems.

Further, she encouraged the church to continue their duties of educating and guiding Batswana according to the ways of God.

She said the theme: United in prayer for crime free Mochudi, was emphasis that with prayer everything was achievable only if all found peace which could lead to free crime environment.

When giving an overview of crime in Mochudi, Supt Olebile Sitale of Mochudi Police said they had recorded several cases which included road fatalities, murder, suicide, rape, defilement and grievous bodily harm.

He said in 2016 they recorded 13 murders compared to seven in 2015 while they had 8 suicides compared to nine in 2015.

Supt Sitale further said there were 39 fatalities in 2016 due to road accidents leading to loss of lives compared to 18 in 2015.

He added that in 2016 they recorded 97 defilement and rape cases, 19 and 78 respectively, compared to 95 in 2015. He further said statistics showed that on grievous harm they recorded 10 cases in 2016 and 13 in 2015 while for aggravated bodily harm they recorded 247 cases in 2016 and 294 in 2015.

Supt Sitale further said in 2016 they registered 464 assault common cases compared to 453 in 2015, 26 cases of threat to kill in 2016 and 21 in 2015.

He said they have observed that many murder cases were caused by drugs, moral decays and road accidents instigated by drunken driving, impatience and failure to obey traffic signs.

Supt Sitale implored all to make it difficult for crime to occur by reducing the opportunity for it to happen.

Bishop Godwin Samuel from EFB said the objective of the prayer drive was to sensitise the nation on the lives lost through suicide, murder and road accidents.

He said this was an intervention strategy after recognising the need as spiritual leaders and members of the community to reverse the aggravated state of crime in Mochudi policing area.

Bishop Samuel said prayer was the only way out. “Enough is enough with these killings, it has to be dealt with quickly”, adding that people should learn to care for and forgive each other.

He implored those who were struggling to let go after being hurt to seek help so as to avoid regrettable circumstances like taking one’s life.

In his welcome remarks, kgosi Segale Linchwe thanked spiritual leaders for coming up with the initiative . ENDS