Africa-Press – Botswana. Coordinator of Child Protection Unit at Serowe Police Service has warned adults against selling drugs to learners as doing so could destroy their lives.
Sgt Oarabile Tome has also called upon parents to join forces with other stakeholders to fight alcohol and drug consumption amongst children, monitor and report any suspicious behaviour of children.
Sgt Tom, who was addressing a kgotla meeting called by the Acting Tribal Authority, Kgosi Serogola Seretse in Serowe recently, said some adults worsened the situation by selling drugs to pupils at schools’ entrance points pretending to be selling fat cakes, sweets and airtime.
He warned such people to stop the practice, saying there were many opportunities they could tap into to earn a living rather than drug peddling.
Mr Tom said some children were introduced to drugs at an early age by the availability of the substance within homesteads, noting that some of the peddlers gave their children the drugs to sell at schools while some sold to children within the community.He urged parents to create a supportive and nurturing home environment for children so that they can make better decisions.
Mr Tom stated the rampant drug abuse and consumption in Serowe district had resulted in nonattendance and abuse of parents by children when under the influence of drugs.
He also expressed concern about criminal activities in the district including rape, defilement, assault, murder, lack of maintenance of children and child neglect.
He said 2022 they registered 132 rape cases, 117 defilement cases, 10 femicides, 500 assaults, and 17 child neglect cases.
Mr Tom voiced concern that some cases were withdrawn without valid reasons, while others went unreported.
He indicated that most assault cases and rape incidents occurred at unlicensed drinking places.
Residents concurred that consumption of drugs and substance abuse were widespread in Serowe and surrounding villages.
Mr Alfred Mosweu expressed concern about some parents who are in the business of selling drugs, and the prevalence in the use of a drug called Cat powder, also known as Katse by the youth.
He further noted that some women had become reliant on the income of the drugs to finance their lifestyle while some claimed that the sale of drugs was a solution to eradicate poverty in their homes.
Mr Segudi Popo implored such parents to stop destroying the future of children, saying at Makolojwane ward the problem was out of hand.
“We should make it our responsibility to educate our children about drug abuse prevention at an early age, in an effort to help fight the issue of drug abuse in the community,’’ he stressed.
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