11 Dec 2013

The United States of America Ambassador to Botswana Mrs Michelle Gavin says gender based violence affects the country’s productivity hence economic growth.

Ambassador Gavin said on Tuesday December 10 when addressing community leaders at Ramotswa main kgotla.

The objective of the event was to mark the end of the 16 days activism against gender based violence.

According to Mrs Gavin, gender based violence affects talented people who are contributing positively to the country’s economic growth.  She said when such people are affected by gender based violence they would spend time seeking medical attention and healing, whereas they could be serving the nation.

Further, she called on community leaders to take example in shunning gender based violence and make the world safer place for women. She said although Botswana is known for peace and respect for the rule of law, the situation is not the same at family level as women and children continue to be violated every day.

She added that a study by Gender Links and the department of Gender Affairs in 2012 revealed that two out of three women have been victims of gender based violence. Further, she added that 44 per cent of men who participated in the study agreed to have committed gender based violence. Ambassador Gavin said only about one per cent of violated women reported their cases to the police. Further she called on the nation to confront the gender based violence statistics in the country.

For her part, Balete paramount chief, Kgosi Mosadi also decried that the peacefulness that the country is known of has failed to translate to many families in the country. However, Kgosi Mosadi blamed the situation on the deteriorating societal values adding that Batswana have forsaken what defined and moulded the society in the past. For instance, she said various Batswana tribes had initiation schools which helped to install accepted social values, but they have been abandoned.

She however said Balete have already made efforts to resuscitate initiation schools and called other tribes to resuscitate theirs or to come up with programs which could help to address social ills. She commended the US embassy for its efforts in supporting Balete to resuscitate Bojale and Bogwera. For their part, the participants promised to speak against gender based violence for the benefit of the country. ENDS