16 Oct 2017

Government is in the process of closing existing loopholes which renders People Living with Disabilities (PLWD) vulnerable.

The coordinator for People Living with Disabilities in the Office of the President, Mr Thomas Motingwa remarked recently at the ALIGHT Botswana workshop organised by Botswana Council for the Disabled in Tlokweng.

He said the Office of the President was inundated with cases of PLWDs who reported how they had been taken advantage of, and that the justice system failed them.

“Steps are being taken to review the policy on people living with disabilities to align them to the convention on the rights of persons with disabilities. After the policy review, there will be need to align the existing laws to the policy and protect PLWDs,” he said.

Mr Motingwa stated that women living with disabilities were mostly affected by various kinds of abuse such as rape and sexual harassment.

“In our office we have cases of women living with disabilities coming to our office saying they need assistance because they have been impregnated and the person is not taking responsibility,” said Mr Motingwa .

Furthermore, he regretted that no one has ever came forward to claim responsibility for impregnating women living with PLWDs, and he regretted that some were even infected with the AIDS virus.

A gender activist, Ms Malebogo Molefhe, who is wheelchair bound after being shot by her boyfriend, stated that there was need to be sensitive and educate children about gender based violence from a young age. She regretted that society still bottled up issues of gender based violence hence it was difficult to have incident statistics in the country.

Furthermore, she regretted that women reported cases and later dropped them.

Ms Molefhe said women who were disabled were mostly vulnerable as they were not completely independent.

“Disabled women need to be empowered on legal rights so as to understand the law and how it protects them,” she stated.

Botswana Council of Disabled executive director, Ms Sekgabo Ramsay stated that silence on disability was a silent killer as it had emotional, physical and psychological outcomes. Ends