04 May 2025

It is disheartening that Letlhakane as a diamond-mining district has recorded the highest number of gender-based violence (GBV) incidents in the country. 

As such, Lucara Botswana Managing Director Ms Nassem Lahri has called for bold protest against GBV. She said this during Denim Day commemoration, which was held in Letlhakane recently, and whose objective was to stand against GBV.

“Denim Day is not about a fashion statement. It is about being mindful of what your purpose and course is going to be when it comes to GBV. We don’t want to talk about survivors. We don’t want a statistic where we have survivors, we want to make sure our children are able to make the right decision from the onset by saying no,” she said.

Ms Lahri pledged P100 000 for sanitary pads for girls in Boteti in addition to those donated by Lucara. She said that it was crucial to dignify young girls, saying female hygiene products were free in other countries and pleaded for such products to be free in Botswana.

For her part, Ms Thatayaone Nkoloi of Stepping Stones International said young people should change attitudes toward rape victims. She said many victims had been blamed for their clothes as the cause of rape, adding that women should feel free to wear what they wanted and people should respect that and exercise self-control.

She also highlighted that some women were abusive to men emotionally and physically. Ms Nkoloi emphasised that there was need to challenge the narrative of labelling abused men as weak. ENDS