14 Feb 2022

There is need for communities to form committees that will help fight the scourge.
Addressing a community meeting in Sehithwa recently,  First Lady, Ms Neo Masisi  stated that statistics on Gender Based Violence (GBV) and child abuse were a concern hence she appealed to the community to form committees that involved men and boys to fight such behaviour.
She encouraged families and the community to report cases of abuse on time and allow the law to take its course.
Ms Masisi said recent statistics indicated that Botswana led in rape statistics worldwide, an indication of how serious GBV was.
She said some GBV cases went unreported, adding that such affected not only the victims but families, community as well as the country.
Botswana Police Service Gender and Child Protection Branch director, Senior Assistant Commissioner Goitseone Ngono said that children aged between 13 to 18 years were mainly affected by sexual abuse.
Ms Ngono said most sexual abuse cases affecting minors involved family members and therefore, it was important to work with the communities in the fight against GBV and child abuse and to form crime prevention cluster committees.
She said in 2019, 2 865 cases of rape were recorded nationally, with 82 of them registered in the Maun policing area and  whilst 12 were for Sehithwa.
She said that 1 919 rape cases were recorded nationally in 2020 of which 69 were for Maun and 12 for Sehithwa while in 2021 there was about 2 111 rape cases nationally with 102 for Maun and six for Sehithwa.
Regarding defilement cases, she said 1 208 reports were recorded nationally in 2019 of which 45 were for Maun while in 2020 about 1 825 cases were recorded nationally 20 of which were for Maun and 13 were for Sehithwa.
Ms Ngono said that 2 033 defilement cases were registered in 2021 of which 108 were for Maun and 11 for Sehithwa.
Ministry of Basic Education’s Department of Special Support Services principal education officer, Ms Ofentse Rampete said issues of GBV and child abuse in the Ngami area were worrying.
Ms Rampete said Ngami Junior Secondary School had a high rate of drop outs, with 55 registered in 2019, 50 in 2020 and 62 in 2021.
She said most dropped out due to truancy and lack of parental care.
Ms Rampete said that two rape cases involving primary school pupils were recorded in 2021 in Sehithwa and three rape cases involving junior secondary pupils were recorded between 2019 and 2021.
She said that 10 defilement cases were recorded between 2019 and 2021 of which six girls fell pregnant in Sehithwa, a single case of incest and one arranged marriage case.ENDS