29 Nov 2020

Botswana has recorded over 531 cases of Gender Based Violence (GBV) between April 1 and June 30 this year.

This was said by department of Gender Affairs Deputy Director, Ms Phemelo Maiketso during a tripartite GBV education campaign themed: Gontsegolekane in Gaborone on November 25.

Among the cases recorded, Ms Maiketso said were 79 cases of defilement, 181 cases of rape and 58 pregnancies of school going children.

“The 2018 Botswana National Relationship study revealed that 37 per cent women reported experiencing GBV at least once in their lifetime”, she said.

Ms Maiketso said the study also revealed that one third of men were reported to have perpetrated GBV in their lifetime, 21 per cent men reported experiencing some form of violence in their lifetime mostly emotional abuse while 12 per cent of women were reported to have perpetrated violence at least once in their life time.

She said the most prevalent type of violence was the intimate partner violence which stood at 36.5 per cent nationwide.

Ms Maiketse said the World Population Report of 2019 ranked Botswana the second in prevalence of rape cases with at least six women getting raped every day in Botswana.

Ms Maiketso said the 2018 Botswana Relationship Study revealed that 97 per cent of men who reported perpetrating Intimate Partner Violence had also experienced abuse before they reached 18 years.

“The 2018 Violence Against Children’s (VAC) survey findings indicate that physical violence is the most common form of violence against children”, she said.

She said on average, 28.4 per cent and 43 per cent of female and male children in Botswana respectively experienced physical violence before the age of 18.

Ms Maiketso said efforts to curb the spread of GBV in Botswana were slowed down by challenges such as inadequate financial and human resources needed to support the implementation and monitoring of GBV related interventions.

For her Part, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) deputy resident Representative, Ms Marguun Alshaikh said statistics showed the pandemic was affecting every neighborhood, every workplace and every household.

“These acts of violence are committed by people, colleagues and friends whom we interact with every day”, she said.

Ms Alshaikh said Government of Botswana, UNDP and civil society had been working for years on end to improve the response side saying it was time to shift focus to prevention.

She said in order to fight the rising GBV cases, they had partnered with the Ministry of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs and Kgalagadi Breweries Limited (KBL) to take an active role in launching a campaign to educate the public on GBV.

“We asking the alcohol consumers to consciously and actively prevent GBV in their communities”, she said.

In his welcoming remarks, KBL Managing Director Mr Brenno Kliger-Diaz said KBL wanted to be part of the alcohol misuse sensitisation campaign.

Kgalagadi Breweries Limited  he stated was dedicated to creating positive experiences with beer by investing heavily in smart drinking initiatives such as Ikgalemele and #BeerResponsible.

“We do not condone, nor do we seek to attract consumers who engage in violent behaviors because of alcohol”, he said.

Mr Kliger-Diaz said they recognised that GBV was a multifaceted problem requiring commitment from all stakeholders hence the launch of campaigns such as #Gontse Golekane. 

November 25 marked the beginning of the 16 days of activism against Gender Based violence and will run until  December 10. ENDS