24 Aug 2022

The public has been urged to observe harmful practices suffered by children in the Ngamiland, which may be seen as acceptable within sectors of the society.

Delivering the Maun Administrative Authority (MAA) roadmap on Tuesday, the sub-district Council chairperson, Mr Vepaune Moreti said there were practices in Ngamiland that were considered acceptable yet were unethical and illegal as they infringed on children rights.

He said thepractices included child marriage, forced marriage, sexual abuse and exploitation, child neglect, gender- based violence, child labour, physical abuse, child trafficking and emotional abuse.

Councillor Moreti highlighted that Ngamiland was overwhelmed by cases of defilement, child marriages, child sexual abuse, as well as rape cases despite government efforts to impose stiffer sentences on perpetrators.

He observed that most community members were ignorant of the law, especially Children’s Act of 2009, hence noted that the district leadership intended to intensify awareness campaigns to educate the community on these issues.

Another observation is that addressing gender-based violence as individual departments resulted in failure, therefore noted that the leadership intended to promote stakeholder collaboration so that GBV could be addressed with one voice.

He said this quarter, a total of 217 cases of child abuse  had been registered, 109 of which were rape and defilement.

Mr Moreti said 20 defilement cases were reported in Kareng and surrounding settlements in June, which he noted was the highest number reported in a month.

He said the Department of Gender Affairs had placed 20 children who were affected in cases of defilement, rape, child neglect and children living in difficult circumstances in different institutions for safety.

“Of this number, 11 were placed in institutions outside Maun Administrative Authority being SOS children’s village in Francistown, Tlokweng and Botswana Gender Based Violence Prevention and Support Centre in Francistown.”

Furthermore, he said nine children were placed in Love Botswana and Women Against Rape facilities in Maun, adding that such children were targeted to be the first batch of foster care programme, which was introduced in the district in December last year. ENDS