29 Nov 2020

Members of Parliament November 25 took a moment of silence before business of the day as a pledge to ending Gender Based Violence within their communities.

Botswana just like any other countries marked the United Nations’  16 Days of Activism against GBV from Wednesday 25 November to 10 December under the 2020 global theme: Orange the World: Fund, Respond, Prevent, Collect!.

As the world retreated inside homes due to the lockdown introduced to curb the COVID-19 pandemic, reports showed an alarming increase in violence against women and children.

To this end chairperson of the Parliamentary Caucus on Women Dr Unity Dow delivered a statement to the nation and appealed to legislators to make a pledge towards the eradication of GBV.

She said gender violence which had become a tradition and reached crisis levels should be put to an end.

She said since the Domestic violence Act which came through Parliament after being presented as a private members bill, it was within the powers of legislators to take a stand against gender violence which was threatening the fabric of society.

“There are a lot of unsafe spaces for women, are we putting money there? Majority of girls in Botswana who become pregnant are in transition years, standard 7 to secondary, form 3 to senior school and form 5 to tertiary, there is a vacuum there and no supervision,” she added.

She said there was a disturbing trend of lack of maintenance leaving single mothers to fend for their children alone. 

She said this could lead to poverty and poverty was a significant factor in gender based violence.

She said violence came gradually and in most cases led to death. 

She appealed to women to come out openly and declare any form of abuse and not hide behind family and marriage.

“We need each other’s support. Preceding these reported fatal incidents there are always early signs such as emotional abuse. 

When reports of violence are brought before authorities there is always this disturbing trend of tsamayang leye go buisana. When she reports it shows o babaletswe”, she added.

Members of Parliament took turns to applaud Dr Dow’s presentation and spoke with one voice on how the fight against GBV had taken centre stage in Botswana. ends