Africa-Press – Botswana. Time is ripe for open discussions on social ills such as rape and defilement at every platform and or forum and social gatherings to try and put an end to the rising vices.
Speaking during a kgotla meeting where child protection was a key discussion, Assistant Minister of Local Government and Rural development, Mr Mabuse Pule said it was time Batswana spoke up against sexual abuse on children.
“We are disheartened by acts of child rape and defilement. Almost everyone is very disturbed about these rising societal issues,” he said.
“Let’s call a meeting of men and discuss what could have gone into our heads so much that we have gone full throttle on abusing our children. This could ignite some self-introspection by some and they may change,” said Mr Pule.
When done with men, he said, kgosi should also call women for a fact-finding mission on why some of them would sleep with boys as young as 17 years old. He opined that after sleeping with older women such boys become uncontrollably disrespectful.
The assistant minister also said that regiments or mephato should be employed in the fight against child abuse arguing that such a measure could be effective in uprooting the scourge that bedevils innocent kids.
Mr Pule who is also Member of Parliament for Mochudi East said that sexual abuse on children completely kills and obliterates the child’s mind. He added that a child who has been sexually offended could spend the rest of their lives mentally disturbed if proper counselling was not administered.
“Let’s treat children as national assets and invest in them so that we can raise some well-rounded leaders,” said Mr Pule.
Buoyed by his training and experience as a social worker, Mr Pule condemned adults who aid sexual abuse of children saying such people usually benefitted from such exploitation.
However, the assistant minister challenged neighbours to keep a hawk’s eye on each other and report any suspicious case of child abuse that could be fomenting.
Although the minister found statistics of sexual abuse on children to be very high, saying he had learnt of 3005 cases of child rape from July last year to July this year, he conceded that the wheels of justice were slow.
As a consequence abused children lived in prolonged trauma especially that many of the assailants roamed the streets.
Worse, Mr Pule said, perpetrators were people closer to the children some of whom may have had threatened the child against speaking out.
Consequently, the assistant minister said a call for increased children’s courts was not farfetched. Actually, he said, such courts should be equipped enough to cater for dispensing justice for children.
He said with the increased number of courts, justice would be served expeditiously and may send a message to the would-be rapists.
Mr Pule also said his ministry was working timeously to increase a number of skilled social workers in order to match the needs of children.
When responding to the opinions put before him by the residents of Bobonong, Mr Pule said denying people accused of rape and defilement bail bordered on their rights as they remained innocent until proven guilty by competent courts of law. He said that the same applied to castrating the accused and convicts.
However, the assistant minister said the issue of bail would be discussed in the upcoming November parliament.
When speaking at the same event, Kgosi Joel Masilo said many people were aware of the challenges children faced as they are socialised into the community. The village tribal leader added that some children picked some social ills in between home and school, a move that would get authorities questioning the child’s upbrining.
“We have child protection committees hard at work ensuring a proper upbringing of the child and that we mould them into responsible beings,” said Kgosi Masilo.
For his part, Bobonong MP, Mr Taolo Lucas called on the ministry of local government and rural development to expeditiously resolve a matter in which caretakers of children with disability have quit their services after the ministry of basic education ceased paying their allowances.
The claim, according to Mr Lucas, was that the ministry argued that taking care of kids with disabilities was a responsibility of the ministry of local government and rural development which is responsible for primary education.
However, he said Bobirwa District Council has indicated that the move to stop payment of allowance by education ministry and expecting council to immediately takeover on short notice left the council hamstrung.
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