14 Mar 2021

The team leader for Men and Boys for Gender Equality, Mr Desmond Lunga says it is a pity that most gender based violence (GBV) cases take  place right under the nose of the community, which seldom stands up to act. 

Speaking at a capacity building and community conversations on GBV workshop to sensitise dikgosi and councillors at Jwaneng on Thursday, Mr Lunga said there should also be collaboration between village authorities such as bogosi, VDC, and the Department of Social and Community Development in fighting the scourge. 

He said such cooperation would ensure that each authority was able to identify cases reported to them and refer victims to relevant professionals for assistance. During the workshop, participants indicated that the most notable kinds of abuses in communities were physical and sexual. 

Specially elected councillors for Jwaneng/Mabutsane, Ms Nolly Dikgokgwane indicated that most of the relevant committees such as child protection committee existed only in name in villages, but were not active. 

She said such then led to failure to address issues of concern such as abuse. 

She therefore advised of the need to resuscitate such committees to take up their duties. 

She urged members of the community to desist from masking issues of abuse, but come forth to report. 

Participants were also in agreement that it was vital that village leadership be professional on issues of abuse, such as a need for confidentiality and willingness to assist victims as failure to do such would lead to victims developing cold feet to report.

During the discussions, it emerged that most villages shared common challenges in their effort to eliminate abuse in all its forms. Such included the staffing of government offices in small villages where officers mostly worked alone. 

Participants indicated that when an officer such as a social worker was away for long on other duties, they left the community with no one to assist them. They also lamented lack of Non-Governmental Organisations in small villages, which could complement government departments, as well as lack of shelter to temporarily accommodate victims of GBV. 

Participants were also in agreement of the need for community sensitisation on kinds of abuse as most people thought abuse was only physical and sexual, which led to other kinds of abuse like emotional and economic not being reported. ends