12 Jun 2023

A men’s conference needs to be convened to deliberate on issues such as gender-based violence (GBV) and boys upbringing, says Minister for State President, Mr Kabo Morwaeng.

Addressing a church service on Sunday to mark the end of Botswana Council of Churches (BCC) week in Gaborone, Mr Morwaeng said the conference would teach men how to raise and mould boys into responsible men and citizens who were loving and caring to their mothers and sisters as well as all women around them.

He said fathers needed to be friends with their sons so they could guide them properly and not be misguided by perpetrators of abuse.

Mr Morwaeng also argued that men who abused women had underlying issues that needed to be addressed, saying those in the right state of mind would not harm women.

He noted that everyone had the right to life and that women also had the right to make choices. Minister Morwaeng said the role of men was to provide and  to protect women.

He said the nation needed healing, restoration, forgiveness and reconciliation as unity was the way to win the war against GBV.

He said churches also needed to introspect and ask God for intervention as people and the nation alone could not make it.

He urged pastors and congregants to be the refuge and shelter which people could run to as they were God’s ambassadors.

He said GBV, the abuse of orphans and widows was not consistent with the church. He also urged pastors to preach against GBV as it was said to be prevalent among those leading and decent church members and community leaders. He appealed to pastors to debar and lay off such leaders as they were not worthy of community service.

The minister emphasised that government was supportive of churches as they were the pillars in democracy and leadership.

He also urged church members to pray for those who lost their loved ones due to GBV and children who lost their parents to passion killings and experienced humiliation through GBV.

He called on Christians to pray for answers on challenges such as lack of national unity, tolerance, unemployment, corruption and crime.

Ms Lorato Moalusi of Botswana Gender Based Violence Prevention Support Centre said men who did not abuse their partners needed to talk to other men to address GBV. She added that children were also exposed to hate and anger.

She urged parents to live the dream of their children as homes were life training grounds.

She also noted that the 2018 national relationship study indicated that 97 per cent of males who abused females had experienced abuse and that 92 per cent of female abusers had also experienced abuse.

Former ambassador, Ms Emelda Mathe of Widows Walking Together Society said widows were terrorised by people who were expected to take care of them.

She appealed to government to intervene, saying widows were dispossessed of their hard earned assets by their in-laws.

She urged the BCC and stakeholders to address the issue, saying it was a form and extension of gender based violence. ENDS