22 Aug 2018

Botswana Police Service’s North-Central regional commander, Senior Assistant Commissioner Christopher Mbulawa has appealed to women to report incidents of abuse. 

Mr Mbulawa said this at the ‘End It Now’ campaign organised by the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Church in Mahalapye to sensitise the community about abuse against women and children recently. 

The campaign was also focused on coming up with strategies to mitigate the current challenges faced by women and children. 

He said research had revealed that women reported abuse after a series of incidents and advised them to rather act on time and never wait. 

He further cautioned men against engaging in sexual acts without women’s consent, saying such cases were taken seriously as they perpetuated abuse.

Mr Mbulawa said abuse was one of the most heartbreaking and serious subjects that the police dealt with daily, adding that women continued to lose their lives at the hands of their male partners. 

The North-Central regional commander said between January and March, the region recorded 36 cases of rape, whose perpetrators were mostly close family relatives. 

He said annually, an alarming number of rape cases were reported across the country, adding passion killings were also on the rise.

Mr Mbulawa said it was unfortunate that some members of the Christian community were also involved in such crimes. 

He therefore commended the SDA Church for standing against abuse, adding prayer was a powerful tool to curb criminal acts. 

He noted that 95 per cent of people had been affected by abuse in one way or the other, saying it took good parenting to nurture children to become responsible adults. 

For her part, SDA North Botswana Conference Women’s Ministry director, Ms Oganne Kgari advised women to be mindful of what they said as they were capable of verbal abuse. 

“Be careful what you say to others, the words you utter can result in harm leaving long lasting bruises and scars,” she advised. 

The venom from snakes is better than some words uttered by some Christians, she said, urging fellow Christians to be exemplary. 

Ms Kgari encouraged victims of emotional abuse to seek psychological help from social workers, counsellors and pastors for healing. 

She said in most cases, women were perpetrators of verbal abuse and therefore urged them to correct such behaviour. ENDS