10 Jul 2023

 Botswana is a signatory to international children’s treaties and therefore, obliged to protect them while ensuring they have quality lives and are in perfect health. 

Head of Child Protection in the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development, Ms Ookame Mokabathebe said this during Masiela Trust Fund Bonang Bana walk in Gaborone on Saturday. 

She said working in tandem with international treaties, but providing overall guidance on child welfare as well as prescribing sanctions against offenders was Botswana’s Children’s Act. 

“The Act dictates that you should, upon seeing any wrong being perpetrated against a child, report it to the police, social workers, or village child protection committees,” said Ms Mokabathebe. 

She said it was important to form such committees where there were none, and spread the message against child abuse. She said: “We are getting reports of child violations in the form of verbal abuse, beatings and extreme punishments in homes, schools and churches - places regarded as safe havens for children.”

She added it was every individual’s responsibility to ensure that children around them were safe and protected from being violated, adding failure to take action was akin to visiting the same violence on the children. 

By child, the law meant anyone aged 18 years and below, she said. However, young adults 19 to 24 years old were also vulnerable and also needed protection. 

Ms Mokabathebe said children constituted 47 per cent of the population, and protecting them was investing in the future. 

Masiela Trust Fund coordinator, Ms Magogodi Dabutha said Bonang Bana Strategy promoted partnerships with the private sector, business community and individuals who contributed towards the fund. 

She appealed for more contributions towards fighting vulnerability, which had grown and become complex. Ms Dabutha said they mainly advocated children’s rights such as those to education and citizenship. 

She said the campaign was in particular drawing attention to children with no national identity documents, such as birth certificates and Omang. 

Most of the children they assisted were in tertiary institutions. The children were those assessed through the Department of Social Protection as needing transport, accommodation and toiletries. So far, they had facilitated the graduation of 100 children, she said. ends