02 Nov 2023

Yes, men accept responsibility in the atrocities committed against women and girl child.

However, while conceding that even older men have adopted the disturbing trends of meting atrocities on women and children, a general consensus amongst the older men is that dikgosi and fathers in general have been weakened by politics much to the detriment of moral fiber leading to many social ills.

They argued that in the past dikgosi were in control and dealt with  perpetrators of  unlawful acts such as rape, murder and defilement. 

Speaking during a men and boys meeting organised by member of Parliament for Bobonong, Mr Taolo Lucas, November 1, many older men, the oldest at 80 years, shared that after taking the powers off dikgosi, society started experiencing many moral and social ills such as rape, defilement and killings.

Held under the theme: Borre go rileng? A re bueng, the older generation accepted blame for the affront on women and leveled the blame on the younger men who lacked fortitude to accept losing a woman, lacked discipline to control themselves against the urge to rape and defile young girls inter alia.

While some diagnosed perpetrators of inhumane acts as sick and probably mentally disturbed, others found such men ‘not men enough’ to continue being part of the society. However, the laws presumed them innocent until proven guilty, they argonised.

Politics, that gave birth to fundamental human rights, were fingered as having aided commission of some horrendous acts on women and children. A case in point, they said, was consistently and constantly affording rapists and killers some bail.

The senior citizens submitted that continually affording perpetrators bail set a bad precedence to would-be assailants who would misconstrue the legal act as permitting commission of violence on women and children.

Although the older men spoke from experience, the younger generation had not pitched up in satisfactory numbers. The younger men, the youngest attendee at 21 years amongst the 104, were accused of being impatient and lacking the fortitude to accept losing a woman.

Some male teachers pointed out that while society was notably trying to put a girl child at par with her male counterpart it seemingly neglected the boy child.

Now, the society is battling with the same broken boy child who, in many instances, are peddlers of drugs and perpetrators of social ills. Conversely, these broken young men are products of broken fathers who hardly know their fathers, they observed.

Amongst other factors the men found to be fueling a troubled society were illegal and illicit drugs. The gathering challenged government through law enforcement agencies to uproot drug lords and peddlers and close any gaps that could lead drugs into the country ‘the same way grandpa was prohibited.’

While trying to address these societal and moral challenges, the men held that rights accorded to women and children have rendered men somewhat impotent.

Their argument was that while trying to discipline their wayward children and mould them into responsible beings they found themselves hamstrung by the rights accorded children.

Some posited that while the laws and rights could be inhibitors, women compounded the problem by providing refuge to notorious kids, arguing for sparing the rod.

At a meeting where men were encouraged to speak freely without fear of being quoted or their words used against them, some attendants hailed area MP for organising the talks saying such talks must be regular.

In the opening, the MP had told the men that his office was on a fact-finding mission on why men were in the forefront of rape, murders, suicides, defilement amongst other crimes that end lives and dehumanize the survivors.

“One day, while in Gaborone, I received a call that one young man has killed his child in a move to revenge against the mother of his child…it was devastating,” said MP Lucas who then sought to engage with men and boys to find out from them causes of such illegal acts.

The MP said that he had realised that men in his constituency had never met and discussed the issues in question. He said such a meeting would help in devising ways to addressing the atrocities meted on girl child and women. ENDS