05 Feb 2019

Attorney General Advocate Abraham Keetshabe says the country needs to return to its strong family values which are the foundation and pillars of society.

Family values, he said,  served as a yardstick in guiding the community.

Speaking during the opening of the 2019 Legal Year yesterday, Advocate Keetshabe said it was regrettable that the moral fiber of society was getting eroded on a daily basis because of a change in societal attitudes and values.

He said the nation was where it was because of its key family values that had led to strong and legally well-built institutions that defended, protected and promoted the country’s democracy.

“Family values are very rich in informing every other behaviour that we adopt. We should, through all avenues, continue to promote our family values that have, hitherto, served us very well,” he said.

Advocate Keetshabe said there was a noticeable trend of departing from the values, norms and cultural behaviours that had led to the establishment of strong democratic institutions.

“Whatever the case, this is where we get it all wrong. We have to work very hard against this, and always remember that in Botswana, as a nation, we were born uniquely original and therefore have to remain original and steer away from being copies”, he said.

He regretted that families were now in pieces while peace eluded households.

People, Advocate Keetshabe said, had become destitute of the character traits esteemed by God.  

He said in the process of nation building, Botsana had to develop a clear and conscious attitude towards the breakdown of the family.

The attorney general noted that when a family as a unit broke down, the trauma that was experienced as a nation was immense and immeasurable, noting that such consequences include murder, violent crime such as rape, robbery and untold domestic and localised violence.

Advocate Keetshabe said that if as a nation people were to truly address contemporary challenges, “we cannot afford is to continue to do nothing about our family as a unit”.

“It is diagnosis that determines the prognosis; and as a nation, we ought to understand this if we are to effectively deal with the incessant crime that has suddenly sprouted to the chagrin of every right-thinking member of this nation”.

On other issues, he said the office of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions (DPP) continued to discharge its mandate with sustained effort in collaboration with various stakeholders with a view to ensuring a safer and secure nation.

He said in a bid to decentralise services, the DPP had set up regional offices in strategic locations to keep up with magisterial districts as follows: Lobatse and Gaborone responsible for the southern part of Botswana; Palapye and Selebi-Phikwe for south central and Francistown and Maun for the northern part of Botswana.

Nevertheless, he said financial and other constraints continued to cripple the ability of DPP to effectively match the footprint of the courts and investigating bodies across the country. Ends