15 Nov 2021

Healthy relations between men and women remain paramount to the fight against gender based violence (GBV), Kanye Administrative Authority’s Men Sector chairperson, Mr Eddie Kgomotso, has said.

Speaking during an International Men’s Day commemoration in Gasegwagwa near Kanye on Saturday, Mr Kgomotso said promoting healthy relations between men and women must accommodate strategies to nip GBV in the bud.

He said the event at Gasegwagwa was a dress rehearsal for the upcoming national event slated for November 19 in Sikwane.

Mr Kgomotso said the Department of Gender Affairs was mandated to facilitate mainstreaming of gender issues in the development process with a view to developing women.

He said Men Sector structures ensured smooth coordination and implementation of activities, adding that one of the primary objectives of the sector was to ensure that men participated in the reduction of escalating GBV incidents.

He said the sector promoted men’s health thus urging men to voice out their problems to avoid taking actions that were detrimental to their lives.

He said GBV burdened the country’s health system and therefore costly to ignore its economic impact on the country.

“More than its enormous toll of death and suffering, GBV also burdened the country’s economy year in and out in health-care costs and loss of human resource of which some were scarce resources.’’

Mr Kgomotso said speaking one’s mind openly and freely, released grudges that had potential to exuberate GBV.

He said resources were channeled to GBV fight and therefore people should be cognizant of the opportunity cost arising from the scourge.

“If we are ever going to stop this epidemic, more must be invested in prevention, not just in response,” said Mr Kgomotso.

Giving a background of International Men’s Day, Mr Kgomotso said it started in Trinidad and Tobago in 1999 after being created by Dr Jerome Tuluck Singh to commemorate his father’s birthday.

It is now celebrated in over 80 countries with the intention to highlight the social issues faced by men both mentally and physically.

He said the day was a global commemoration celebrated annually on November 19 to recognise and celebrate the cultural, political, and socio-economic achievements of men.

He said the day was an occasion to celebrate boys and men’s achievements and contributions to the nation, unity, society, community, family, marriage and childcare.

The broader and ultimate aim of the event was to promote basic humanitarian values as well as awareness towards men’s issues that sought to tackle GBV head on, noted Mr Kgomotso.

However, Botswana Police Service’s Sergeant Gotsang Gaotingwe said there was a thin line between GBV and disciplining a child, but noted that appropriate disciplinary measures should be carried out.

He said GBV reporting at police stations was done in private to accord victims privacy.

Sergeant Gaotingwe said statistics of GBV cases reported to the police from Lotlhakane East, Gasegwagwa and Kanye were appalling.

He said as from April 2020 to March 2021, 36 cases of rape were reported, 15 for defilement, nine threats to kill and 102 for assaults, both common and occasioning to actual bodily harm.

However, there was one murder incident during the period, he noted.

As from April to September 2021, 16 rape cases were reported, eight defilement, threats to kill two and assaults 30, said Sergeant Gaotingwe.

However, he said there were no murder cases reported during the period.

Meanwhile, the event culminated with a GBV awareness football match that saw Black Stars and Pharaohs football clubs both of Gasegwagwa slagging it out in a pulsating encounter. ENDS