02 Nov 2020

Kgosi Batoloki Mabalane of Ntshe ward in Francistown says parents have a role to play in reducing gender based violence (GBV), through the way they groom their children.

Speaking during a GBV awareness event in Francistown recently, Kgosi Mabalane urged parents to always engage other family members to help mould children before involving courts of law.

He said as parents knew what was culturally expected of them in terms of child grooming, they should mould children to be of good character.

Kgosi Mabalane discouraged cohabitation, as it could lead to GBV.

He said having a child together was not a ticket to a lifetime relationship without marriage, hence nobody should shy away from being a single parent.

He said most of the cases that came to his office were results of jealousy or drug and alcohol abuse, adding that since January, they had received three unlawful wounding cases, four physical violence cases and six common nuisance cases, with most of the perpetrators aged between 19 and 26.

For his part, Francistown State Prison psychologist, Mr Lesomo Sebati said at times members of the society abandoned their relatives who had been to prison, hence the perpetrators ended up developing a mindset of hurting their loved ones for not showing them love.

He urged the society to visit prisoners and get to understand what they might be feeling and why they did what they did.

Mr Sebati said prisons offered character-building exercises such as anger management and assertiveness, adding that sometimes they engage relatives to help in identifying what could have led the perpetrator to commit crime.

He urged parents to be more involved in their children’s lives, know their living standards, especially when they are at tertiary institutions, working and staying alone.

Meanwhile, Sub Inspector, Lapologang Mojanaga of Francistown Central Police Station said this year, they recorded 17 cases of rape compared to last year’s 10, and nine defilement cases compared to six last year; 118 cases of physical violence and 23 common nuisance cases were recorded from January to date. ENDS