16 Aug 2020

Parliament on August 14 ended business undecided on a motion that request the President to set up a Commission of Enquiry on Gender Based Violence (GBV), rape and other sexual offences that was tabled by Mahalapye East MP, Mr Yandani Boko. 

The motion that was tabled as a matter of urgency, in terms of the Commissions of enquiry Act Cap 05:02 sparked mixed reactions from both aisles, with MPs arguing whether the motion should be deferred or should stand. 

When tabling the motion, Mr Boko said Botswana had an incidence of 92.9 incidents of rape per 100 000 people, a scenario, which he said was disturbing and unacceptable. 

He said in January 2020, the Botswana Police Service recorded 133 rape cases as compared to 110 cases registered over the same period in the preceding year, while in February 2020, the Commissioner of Police, Keabetswe Makgophe revealed that in 2019, rape cases stood at 2 265. 

“This means that there were six rape cases per day,” he stated. Furthermore, he said the police recorded 31 cases of defilement and 22 cases of rape from March 23 to April 4, this year. Mr Boko further argued that the COVID-19 pandemic also added to the challenges relating to GBV, increasing the urgency with which solutions needed to be found to arrest the situation. He said during lockdown, while murder incidents showed a downward trend, there was an increase in reported sexual offences. 

“There is clearly an urgent need to attend to these issues. The statistics induce a sense of shock,” he emphasised.

 In that regard, he said the problem had reached crisis level that needed attention at the highest levels of leadership. 

Thus, he suggested that a multi-disciplinary commission, which would make a well informed and well-timed recommendations to government was the only effective way forward. 

He further said setting up a commission of enquiry presented the best opportunity for the President to demonstrate his commitment to fighting GBV, which he committed to in his statements previously. 

When responding to the motion, Minister of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs, Ms Annah Mokgethi asked for deferment of motion to next Friday. 

While she acknowledged the national importance of the motion, she said it was important that ministers responsible to respond to the motion should be given chance to gather their thoughts as it involved a couple of ministries, being Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs, Defence, Justice and Security and Local Government and Rural Development. 

Ms Mokgethi suggested that the motion be discussed at general assembly level so that members could appreciate issues involved. 

She said issues of GBV were multi-sectoral and diverse, hence different ministries were mandated to deal with issues of GBV. 

“I have no intention to throttle the motion that is of fundamental importance to the country and women. I am a woman who is equally concerned about issues of GBV,” she stated. 

MP for Mochudi West, Mr Mmusi Kgafela moved that the motion should be rephrased and instead of asking for commission of enquiry, the mover should ask that an advisory committee be set up to deal with the matter. 

He argued that setting up a commission of enquiry was not appropriate for the motion tabled before Parliament as per the Commissions of Enquiries Act. 

Leader of the House, also Vice President, Mr Slumber Tsogwane also moved that the motion be deferred so that ministers acquaint themselves with the motion to come up with appropriate answers. 

Meanwhile Leader of Opposition and MP for Maun West, Mr Dumelang Saleshando said he was disturbed that there was an emerging trend of ministers coming up with statements in an intention to kill opposition legislators’ motions. 

The debate on the motion is scheduled to continue. Ends