F/town registers 25 defilement cases within few months
Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Wednesday September 22, 2021 10:24
Radisigo revealed the statistics during a virtual Francistown City Council (FCC) full council meeting recently. In his address, the mayor said that in his previous full council session address, he raised the alarm over the escalating number of child abuse cases in the city.
He stated that during the second quarter of the year alone, the second city registered 25 cases of defilement, an increase from the previous quarter. According to Radisigo, during the previous quarter, which ended in June this year, they registered 18 cases of defilement. He added that the statistics for the two quarters show that there is an increase of 38% of defilement cases recorded in the last nine months. He said that it has been established that most of the cases occur when schools are closed.
The mayor indicated that out of the 25 reported cases of defilement, two children were reported to be pregnant.
He said that the pregnancies will have an impact on their education. Therefore, he called upon councillors and other community leaders to take action towards curbing this silent pandemic.
On a different note, Radisigo highlighted that the protection of children remains one of their critical roles, especially in light of the silent pandemic in a time of another, COVID-19. He indicated that the COVID-19 pandemic has increased the threat to the safety and wellbeing of children. He added: “This is partly due to actions taken to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic such as school closure and movement restrictions, which disrupt children’s routines and support systems". Radisigo added that there is a need to acknowledge that some parents are facing heightened stress from loss of income, social isolation and potential crowding in homes, which provide a fertile ground for social ills to foster or go undetected.