05 Mar 2019

Central District Council (CDC) chairperson, Mr Peter Williams, says his region continues to experience cases of child trafficking.

When opening a full council meeting on March 4, Mr Williams said 19 cases of child trafficking which involved children below the age of 18 were recorded in October - December. 

“All these children were repatriated to their countries of origin which were Zimbabwe, South Africa and Zambia,” Mr Williams revealed. 

Statistics showed that of these 19 trafficked children, six cases were registered in Tonota, one in Mahalapye, five in Tutume and seven in Palapye Sub-districts. 

Of all the seven trafficked children in Palapye Sub-district and the six in Tonota originated in Zimbabwe whilst the one in Mahalapye originated fromZambia whilst the five in Tutume originated from Zimbabwe and South Africa.

However, Mr Williams said two more cases of child trafficking were recorded on January 17 in Mahalapye. The children originated from Zimbabwe.

Mr Williams said the expenditure for the upkeep of the children stood at P73 372. 87.

On related cases, Mr Williams pointed out some critical cases he observed that affected the wellbeing of children. 

He noted that there were 69 cases of defilement, three cases of incest, 25 cases of adoption, 19 cases of child custody, 55 cases of children in conflict with the law, 31 cases of rape and 23 cases of child negligence. 

Mr Williams revealed that Tutume Sub District and Serowe Administrative Authority recorded the highest number of defilement cases whilst Palapye Administrative Authority recorded the highest cases of children in conflict with the law.

However, Mr Williams spelt provision of some interventions such as office intervention and psychological support for the children. Ends