16 Feb 2020

The First Lady, Ms Neo Masisi has commended Botswana Police Service for embarking on Gender Based Violence GBV Campaign.

Officially launching the campaign in dubbed; Pitso ya Borre at Molepolole Bus Terminal on Friday, the First Lady said although women appear to be the most vulnerable segment of the society, it was the responsibility of every Motswana to act against any form of GBV highly prevalent in Kweneng.

Ms Masisi said unless society stood together in the fight against GBV related issues, efforts by the police to inject funds into campaigns would be meaningless.

“Let’s collaborate to be able to reach a common purpose towards eliminating the scourge,” she said.

She emphasised that GBV needed to be rooted as it negatively impacted on the country’s development in areas of education, leading to absenteeism among school children, regular visits to hospitals thus affecting productivity in the work place.

She said it was the responsibility of Batswana to fight towards retaining the dignity and integrity of Botswana by guiding against social ills that appear to be rampant within the society.

The First Lady also emphasised the need to uphold the peace and tranquility that Botswana was known for, adding that it could be achieved through change of attitudes among individuals.  

“Time is now to stop all the appalling state of affair and take heed of advice we get from relevant stakeholders and ensure information dissemination reaches out to as many Batswana as possible”, the First Lady pleaded. 

She said it was important that men changed their perception towards women since all fingers pointed at them, stating that injuries caused by GBV were not only physical but also emotional.

Meanwhile the Minister of Defence, Justice and Security Mr Kagiso Mmusi emphasised the need to collaborate with the police for effective tackling of both domestic and transnational organised crimes such as cyber crime, human trafficking as they were regarded global challenges.

“We need to be mindful of the fact as the ministry responsible for peace and security, we are obliged to work towards ensuring the rule of law, as well see to it that every citizen deserves a peaceful secure and safe environment”, said Minister Mmusi.

For his part the Minister for Presidential Affairs Governance and Public Administration Mr Kabo Morwaeng, also challenged men in the leadership to take a lead in shunning any form of violence and to ensure they lead by example.

“Let us be exemplary and avoid situations where we will be despised for such conducts, let us clearly disrespect men who work against society morals, disregarding the fact women have the right to leave and should not be treated as objects” the minister said.

Presenting an overview of the campaign, Commissioner of Police Mr Keabetswe Makgophe stated that the reason for choosing Molepolole over other areas was based on the fact that, the Number  11 district which covers some parts of Kweneng had alarming cases of GBV.

The Commissioner decried the increase of crimes in the district especially cases of murder, threat to kill, rape, attempted rape and defilement between 2015 and 2019, with some general increase in 2019 as compared to  2018.

Statistics revealed, an increase of murder cases from 278 in 2015 to 320 while rape and attempted rape also escalated from 2163 from to 2265 between 2015 and 2019.

“We are highly concerned about the increasing level of violence and ruthlessness demonstrated in the commissioning of certain crimes such as murder, threat to kill, rape, defilement and some serious assault, predominantly committed by men against women,” said the police commissioner.

Mr Makgophe also told the gathering about his instruction for the police to guard against withdrawal of cases especially that of threat to kill, where in most instances were due to pressure mounted on victims by society.

“We have now taken a decision to ensure that withdrawals of such cases can only be made before courts to avoid situations where victims end up being murdered and the police labelled failures,” Commissioner Makgophe said.

Meanwhile, Kgosi Kgari III advised men to treat their female counterparts as human who deserve to be treated with dignity.

He said organisations such as Women Shelter had been formed, books written relating to how GBV affected society with all issues centered around men.

“Let us be human enough and avoid being statistics and join hands with society to ensure advocacy on issues that demean status of men,” he pleaded. ENDs