22 Feb 2024

Cases of Gender Based Violence (GBV) continue to increase within disciplined forces in Botswana such as Botswana Defence Force (BDF), Botswana Police Service and Botswana Prison Service, says Minister of Defence and Security, Mr Kagiso Mmusi.

He told the 2024 senior management conference of the Botswana Prison Services in Francistown Wednesday that this was a growing concern as disciplined forces were meant to uphold and enforce the law, not to violate it.

Mmusi said the very nature of the disciplined forces meant that they must be held to a higher standard than the general public.

He said the disciplined forces were representatives of the law hence they were expected to lead by example and uphold the highest standard of conduct.

The minister said disciplined force that allowed GBV to take place was not fulfilling its duty to protect and serve.

He however commended the department for its efforts to combat GBV within the institution.

Mr Mmusi said one such effort was the ‘GBV Perpetrators Voice’ initiative, aimed at educating and rehabilitating offenders who had committed acts of GBV.

This programme, he said was designed to help offenders understand the impact of their actions and prevent future incidents of GBV. The minister also called on prisons department to ensure that payments to suppliers were made on time.

He said this was important as timely payments promoted local businesses and the economy. Also timely payments of suppliers ensured that vendors were not negatively impacted by delayed payments, he said.

On other issues, Mr Mmusi urged senior management team to strive for excellence on how they operated and served the public.

This challenge, he said, was a call for the department to go above and beyond in their efforts to rehabilitate and reintegrate offenders, and to provide high-quality services that were both effective and compassionate.

The minister urged the department to make the necessary commitments and sacrifices in order to achieve this goal.

He explained that President Dr Mokgweetsi Masisi was concerned with poor service delivery across the public sector.

Equally, he said ministries were also concerned with poor service delivery in various government departments. The minister also made a commitment to improve staff welfare and conditions of service for prisons officers. He encouraged prisons officers to come up with new and innovative ways to implement the reintegration and rehabilitation programme, with an eye towards the fourth industrial revolution.

Mr Mmusi also donated on behalf of Botswana Prison Service a photocopying machine, an air conditioner and food hampers to Francistown Centre for the Deaf. He said the donation would go a long in improving their dignity.

He commended them for having heeded a call by government to help the less privileged members of the community.

For her part, the Commissioner of Prisons, Ms Dinah Marathe said the implementation of the reintegration and rehabilitation strategy across the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region was a significant step towards addressing the needs of vulnerable and marginalised groups in the region.

She said for Botswana, this meant that more effective and comprehensive measures would be put in place to support and assist individuals who were at risk of being excluded from society.

In receiving donation, Francistown Centre for the Deaf, school head, Ms Boitshepo Munyadzwe-Mathumo praised Botswana Prison Service for the donated items saying they  would be put to good use.

She called upon Batswana to know sign language so that they could effectively communicate with the deaf community. Academically, Ms Munyadzwe-Mathumo  said the students were not  performing well due to a number of various reasons beyond control. 

However, she said they were doing well in all extra curriculum activities, and pleaded with department of prisons to partner with the school to impart any skills that they possessed. ENDS