15 Mar 2021

Preservation of negative cultural practices and traditional attitudes that perpetuate women’s subordination in the family and society must be addressed and rejected by all.

 This was said by Vice President Slumber Tsogwane during the launch of an 18-day Rakops family building campaign on Saturday.

 He said the drivers of violence against women and girls were deeply rooted in persisting patriarchal attitudes and gender stereotypes.

It was worrisome, he said, that gender biases and inequalities persisted across the spectra of society leading to abuse of women and girls in particular.

  Mr Tsogwane therefore called for greater effort and commitment from all to engage in behavioural change that would in turn eliminate societal and cultural norms perpetuating gender-based violence (GBV).

He described GBV as one of the most prevalent human rights abuses in the world with no social, economic or national boundaries.

It undermined the dignity, security and autonomy of the victims of which the majority were women and girls, he said.

To curb the scourge, he said there was need for all to join efforts in its prevention and the protection of its victims and survivors.

“We all have much to address the cries for justice of women and children who are suffering violence, it is our moral obligation and responsibility to end these horrible abuses and human rights violations,” he said.

He said Botswana Police  recorded a 7.4 per cent increase in GBV related offences in 2020 as compared to 2019 with rape and defilement crimes taking the lead.

Mr Tsogwane stated that threat to kill and defilement increased by 158 cases last year.

Ministry of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs deputy permanent secretary, Mr Motse Otlhabanye said since COVID-19 broke out in Botswana, a total of 4 996 GBV cases had been reported.

The cases included murder, rape, defilement, threat to kill and indecent assault adding that 1 823 cases reached the courts while 3 173 were pending, he said.

Mr Otlhabanye said civil society organisations dealing with GBV issues also reported an upsurge in cases during the same period.

As a strategy for addressing GBV in the context of COVID-19, he said, the recently established inter-ministerial committee was in the process of developing a GBV multi-sectoral response plan guided by the National Strategy Towards Ending Gender Based Violence.

He said the first step to address GBV was to prevent it from happening by tackling its root and structural causes.

Healthy Families Foundation director, Mr Percy Thaba said men should take the lead in fighting GBV and serve as role models.

They should also take responsibility for  ensuring that their families were healthy and happy, he said.

His co-director and wife Ms Ashley Thaba stressed the need for happiness, faithfulness and peace in families and societies.

If homes were healthy, the whole society would be healthy, Ms Thaba said.

She said a better Botswana was possible and could start in Rakops  noting that since the beginning of the campaign on March 8, there had been testimonies showing that families were changing as people started discussing their problems instead of using force.ends