The Minister didn’t allege any fabrication or interference with his cellphone like the Assistant Minister implicated in the current Sebina scandal did. Nor was there any demonstration of revulsion from any quarter, not even from the moralistic religious community. There wasn’t any pontification on society morals. It was all quiet. I felt extremely lonely in my denunciation of the incident, as vulgar and irresponsible behaviour by a senior government official, in my weekly column. Whatever happened to Batswana moral compass? I asked myself. How can men in such lofty places speak so uninhibited about their promiscuity with young girls? Subsequently when the Minister bit the dust in the 2014 general elections, I wondered whether it was a delayed reaction from the voters against the FB post incident or coincidental! I had been devastated and the community’s silence knocked me for a six. I was disgusted. Had Judge Mabel Jansen (SA) uttered her remark about rape, being the culture of black men, at the time, I’d have brooded over the remark before venting my condemnation of her as racist!
Is promiscuous sexual abuse of young girls a male Batswana passtime? May it be the reason why our government isn’t moved by women’s plea to sign the SADC protocol on gender equality? Recently on Gabz Fm, ‘Breakfast with Reg,’ programme, a caller suggested Batswana should review the applicability of Tswana maxims in today’s milieu. Reggie dismissed him. Rightly so, I thought! Idioms are the cream of language. But can it be so when expressions like: Tsa etelelwa ke namagadi pele di wela ka lengope (Cattle led by a cow will fall into a cavernous hole), are in vogue? Shall women empowerment ever see the light of day while our language brims with figures of speech scorning women leadership?
