21 Jun 2023

Social workers have been implored to come up with interventions that will advocate for children protection and thriving families.

The country is said to be experiencing a rising number of child abuse and human trafficking incidents as well issues of dysfunctional families.

Addressing a consultative meeting with social workers, Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural Development, Mr Mabuse Pule noted that many children, were routinely exposed to physical, sexual and psychological violence in their homes and communities. 

This, he said, had devastating consequences on their health and well-being now and in future hence the need to develop effective violence prevention strategies and therapeutic interventions aimed at  protecting them.

He noted that in North West District Council, 2000 cases had been registered of which 76 were children were molested , adding that such meant that 76 families were under traumatic situations which required social workers to come on board and offer psychosocial support and counselling to such families.

Mr Pule further said it was a pity as children suffered violence within their homes with their cries unheard as their fathers, uncles, brothers and cousins sexually abused them, adding that it was worrying as mothers failed to report such cases.

He challenged social workers to be the children’s advocates noting that they could convene meetings with different stakeholders where they encouraged all to join forces with them to eliminate all practices harmful to children.

The assistant minister said there was need for concerted efforts from families, communities and individuals to curb the scourge.

Social workers were also advised to work with Children Protection Committees to pass messages about children protection.

Child trafficking, he said, was also rampant, noting that Botswana was used as a transit to other countries. He said girls were mostly trafficked from rural areas to urban centres for child labour while some were placed in brothels.

“Through such meetings, you can discuss issues of all forms of child abuse and also teach children to be assertive, how they can defend themselves, call perpetrators or men to order as well as appeal to mothers to protect their children,” he added.

Parents were also encouraged to monitor the movements of their children as failure to do so put the children at a risk of being raped or defiled.

Mr Pule also expressed concern at the rate of disposal of child abuse cases saying the delay to prosecute added to the trauma as children saw perpetrators in their communities, which impacted their lives.

However, he called on social workers to work closely with police officers and magistrate courts to ensure that such cases were prioritised.

Social workers were also called to re-unite families and promote positive parenting.

Prevention of violence against children, he said, required cooperation and collaboration among many partners.

Mr Pule also noted that drugs and substance abuse was a concern noting that the problem had found way into primary schools with reports that some Standard 6 and 7 pupils were addicted to drugs.

While he acknowledged shortage of social workers, he said there was need to place some at schools to deal with such issues.  

The assistant minister underscored the need to revisit the destitution policy with a view to understand the purpose of mass assessment, saying it was frustrating as some people were not graduating from the programme.

The programme, he said was not meant to register people as permanently destitute but they were supposed to be assisted to eventually graduate and pave way for registration of new beneficiaries.

“It has come to my attention that every district has a group of permanent destitute persons and it is not economically sustainable for the government to look after them. This was evident during COVID-19 pandemic as government had to buy extra food to cushion members of the communities,” he added.

Mr Pule urged social workers to come up with income generating projects that could help beneficiaries to graduate and live independently. Ends