19 Dec 2013

Kgosi Mbao Kahiko of Charleshill says the 16 days of activism on violence against women and children should raise awareness about gender based violence as a human right issue.

Speaking at the end of the 16 days of activism campaign in Ghanzi on Wednesday, December 18, Kgosi Kahiko said the annual 16 days is an ongoing strategy by individuals and groups around the world to call for the elimination of all forms of violence against children and women.

Currently, Kgosi Kahiko said, statistics show that 67 per cent of women in Botswana have experienced some form of gender violence in their life including partner and non-partner violence; with a smaller but still high proportion of men at 44 per cent who admit to perpetrating violence on women.

He said the local and international groups need to work around violence against children and women and establish a link and create tools to pressure government, private sector and the general society to implement promises made to eliminate gender based violence.

For his part, Assistant Superintendent Batsho Muzola of Ghanzi Police expressed concern at the high numbers of gender based violence cases.

Although they receive some cases, Ass Supt Muzola said he was certain that a lot of cases were not reported. Since 2011, he said, they had received 35 cases of rape, 54 received in 2012 and 64 cases this year. Ass Supt Muzola said in 2011 they recorded three cases of defilement while in 2012 and 2013 it was two and six respectively.

Cases of common assault in 2011 were at 102, in 2012 at 98 and 2013 there were 59 cases, while indecent assault recorded two cases each in 2011 and 2012 and four in 2013, he said. Ass Supt Muzola said they recorded four cases of threat to kill in 2011 while in 2012 and 2013 they recorded seven and eight respectively; while on murder they did not have any case in 2011 and 2012 they registered two case and only one this year.

The police officer noted that with the implementation of Domestic Violence Act of 2008, they hope to address gender violence to have a safe and secure nation by 2016. ENDS