19 Oct 2026

Minister of Youth and Gender Affairs, Ms Lesego Chombo has challenged employers to come up with anti-gender based violence (GBV) policies in the workplace. While she acknowledged that GBV was a multi-faceted challenge which called for individual responsibility, she noted that the formulation and effective implementation of such policies would go a long way in bridging the gap.

“It is very important for employers to make a significant contribution towards ending GBV through workplace policies which are anti-GBV,” she said at the Anti-GBV Campaign in Jwaneng on Friday. 

Held under the theme: Uprooting GBV Drivers From Our Communities, the campaign sought to identify and address social, cultural and economic factors that drive GBV within communities.

Ms Chombo noted that robust anti-GBV policies would augment government’s commitment to eradicate GBV and build safe communities for all. She said the enactment of the Employment and Labour Relations Act was a step in the right direction since it had provisions which spoke against GBV in its various forms in the workplace.  

Additionally, she implored private sector organisations to partner with government to ensure that places such as Jwaneng, which were economic hubs, had adequate social support structures. She said employees’ wellness programmes which provided counselling and other social support services were also important in the fight against GBV.

She further said empowering women through equal gender pay and business funding would also go a long way in contributing towards gender equality and reducing the vulnerability of women which makes them susceptible to abuse. 

Moreover, the minister challenged all segments of society to join hands and introspect on some of the societal, cultural and religious practices that perpetuated GBV.

“Today’s campaign is not enough in itself, it is only a launch pad. For us to make sustainable progress we must address the attitudes, beliefs, behaviours, social norms that can perpetuate gender inequality and violence,” she said.

“We should introspect if our belief systems fuel GBV and encourage victims to stay in abusive environments. We should also challenge normalisation of gender stereotypes,” she added.  

Jwaneng Mine general manager, Mr Goitseone Gadifele said the campaign, which was a collaboration between Jwaneng Mine and Jwaneng District Gender Committee, was intended to create awareness and strengthen action against GBV, with the ultimate goal of building a safer and resilient community. 

“Today we officially launch this campaign, but our commitment must go beyond this event. Through this campaign we aim to unite our community around a shared vision of a safer, more respectful and violence-free Jwaneng,” he said, and added that the campaign provided an opportunity for them to shine the light on the main phases of GBV including physical, emotional, psychological.

He said the campaign would allow for a deeper understanding of the devastating impact of GBV, and will be a platform for challenging every cause of violence by confronting harmful attitudes, unequal power relations, stigma and the culture of silence that allows violence to continue.

Mr Gadifele underscored the need to for all members of society to join hands towards positive behavioural change that would result in mutual respect and peaceful conflict resolution mechanisms. 

“GBV is everybody’s responsibility; we must move beyond awareness to action, we must challenge harmful behaviours, speak up against abuse and support those may be suffering from silence,” he noted.

The District Commissioner for Jwaneng, Mr Goleba Kgari noted that even though the district experienced a slight decline in GBV related matters reported to various government departments from last year between January and October and the same period this year, there was still need to uproot and dismantle all the factors contributing towards GBV. 

He also raised concern that most of the GBV-related cases registered with the customary courts, whose victims were all women, were withdrawn. 

Mr Kgari noted that from a total of 96 cases reported in 2024, 86 were withdrawn, while 48 out of 62 cases reported in 2025 were also withdrawn. This year, he said from the 45 which have been reported to date, 41 have been withdrawn. ENDS