19 May 2022

Okavango leadership is concerned about escalating cases of child defilement and teenage pregnancy in the district.

The region’s health statistics have indicated that teenage pregnancy stood at 7.8 per cent while police reported 10 cases of defilement from beginning of this year to date.

Officer commanding district 17, Senior superintendent Victor Nlebesi said in an interview recently that in 2021, they registered 50 cases of which 47 were defilement while three were defilement on imbecile children in which Seronga area was leading statistically. This year from January to end of April, he said, police recorded 10 cases as opposed to six reported last year for the same period.

The police chief also stated that withdrawal of cases was not allowed because that undermined their efforts to address the problem at hand. Snr Supt Nlebesi was hopeful that the incidents would go down as they had embarked on school visits to address learners on such issues and to encourage them to report such incidents and take their studies seriously.

The district leadership decried this situation recently in an interview, citing that in most cases perpetrators were either family members, close relatives and working class people.

“I am strongly saddened by this conduct as grown up men impregnate school going girls while they are at a stage where they have to be educated and protected,” said Kgosi Ponda Mahindi of Shaikarawe.

He stated that in his village the situation was worse and attributed the increasing number of cases to poor parenting and high poverty levels with more parents failing to provide basic necessities for their children.

Shaikarawe is a small settlement in the Okavango district and residents mostly depend on Ipelegeng programme to earn a living. Kgosi Mahindi explained that the area was dominated by Basarwa who were economically challenged to look after their children while some had neglected their children’s education hence high cases of defilement.

He also stated that it was disturbing as young girls were engaging in an intimate relationship with older men and cases went unreported as parents of victims chose silence because the men provided for the families.

“We are battling pregnancies and dropouts as many children are roaming the street indulging in alcohol and drug consumption during school time. There is no order in my village despite efforts to sensitise parents through kgotla meetings about proper parenting and the importance of education,” he stressed.

Pastor Mokowe Dinyando of Shakawe concurred that defilement was a serious concern in the village.

The victims in some cases, he said disclosed the sexual abuse to their mothers who would not report the case because the abuser gave them some money. In addition, he said some parents find it hard to talk about the issue because they feel it was embarrassing to let people know about such an occurrence.

Some children, he said also wanted things like smartphones which exposed them to social media and that lured them into risky sexual behaviour resulting in them being defiled by older men or women.

Pastor Dinyando pointed out that church leaders encouraged parents to take their parenting responsibilities seriously to curb the vices. “We also make efforts to instill discipline amongst children so that they grow into responsible citizens. Disciplining a child means teaching them responsible behaviour and self-control.”

An elderly at Gumare, Mr Kebalepile Nkwane who is also a former police station commander said it was unfortunate as some girls were defiled by their fathers or a close member of the family such as uncles and cousins.

He said in some instances, parents negotiated with offenders to settle the matter out of court, which contributed to rise in cases of defilement. Ends