01 Nov 2020

Vice President Slumber Tsogwane has called on the nation to pray for God’s intervention in the fight against gender-based violence (GVB).

“We need to look to God for help. Let us pray and ask God for intervention. Let the word of God be preached for them to change and be baptized,” he told his audience at Molepolole bus rank after a walk against GBV organised by Sunshine Africa on October 29.

Mr Tsogwane stressed the need for behavioural change and obedience to the scriptures as God had the power to change people.

Quoting Ezekiel 36:26-27, he  emphasised the importance of total surrender to God and asking him for a new heart.

A troubled heart should look to God for guidance, he said.

Mr Tsogwane said from January to September, 48 died due to GBV, comprising 43 women and five men while 1 036 rape and 305 defilement cases were recorded.

The vice president urged parents to impart socialisation skills to their children.

Mr Tsogwane decried  the continuing inhumane acts of GBV despite interventions made to curb it.

He said even though laws existed and more stringent ones would be enacted, it was important for all to take the responsibility of bringing an end to GBV.

Minister of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs, Ms Anna Mokgethi said the prevailing situation where hardly a day passed without a report of passion killing, rape and assault on women and girls could not be allowed to continue.

“It pains and gives me sleepless nights that our great country which has always been renowned for its beauty and peace is now rated second country with highest level of rapes in the world,” she said.

Minister Mokgethi said stopping the butchering and mutilation of women could be achieved by recognising that the war against GBV was for all and not government alone.

“For instance, as a society we must abandon certain cultures and negative gender stereotypes as they significantly contribute to the perpetration of GBV on women and girls,” she said.

Minister Mokgethi said besides physical injuries, GBV survivors suffered psychological trauma, fear and low esteem and therefore needed pycho-social support.

The minister commended Sunshine Africa for organizing “Bo Rre Tsayang Kgato” campaign which she said resonated with her ministry’s position that GBV required a multi-sectoral effort.

Sharing the campaign’s objectives, Sunshine Africa chairperson, Mr Anderson Mathibe said it was meant to encourage men to take action and stop GBV.

He stressed the need for sensitisation and community mobilisation to walk towards a gender-based violence free generation.

Mr Mathibe said the intention was to roll out the campaign across the country.

Giving her testimony, GBV survivor and gender activist, Ms Malebogo Molefe said she was shot eight times by her then boyfriend shot who later committed suicide.

She related how she had to go through years of intensive health care after being left almost paralysed.
Ms Molefe called on Batswana to take part in ending GBV and to be alert in noticing the early signs of violence and act without delay.

For his part, the Minister for Presidential Affairs, Governance and Public Administration, Mr Kabo Morwaeng said the proposed sex offenders register would come in handy as perpetrators would be brought to book and exposed for the entire nation to know them.

He urged churches to continue praying for the end of GBV and the intervention of God.

In his welcome remarks, Kgosi Lawrence Mofaladi called for the death penalty for killers  of women and girls.
Kgosi Mofaladi also asked government to consider making Christianity mandatory in Botswana.

Giving a vote of thanks, Molepolole North MP, Mr Oabile Regoeng called on government to consider including gender issues in the curriculum as a way of addressing the problem. ENDS