GCC audit makes headway with cases
Tsaone Basimanebotlhe | Tuesday March 29, 2022 06:00
“As of today, the committee has managed to close 14 of those outstanding queries and is remaining with 20. At this pace, I am certain that by the end of May 2022, 20% of the remaining queries will be closed. The audit committee also managed to adhere to its planned audits and performed special ones. The audit committee assisted the council to recover some lost monies.
These achievements were not without challenges. Amongst these challenges were the bureaucratic processes of disciplining the officers who have been transferred out of Gaborone City Council and recovering lost funds from these officers,” Maphongo said. In addition, he said despite all the challenges, audits that unearthed issues of corruption or theft have been reported and are currently held by the investigating agencies of government being the Directorate on Corruption and Economic Crime (DCEC) and the Botswana Police Service.
He said some of the cases are already before the courts of law. On other issues related to the council, the mayor told members that the council through the Department of Social and Community Development handles various social cases, some referred by the courts of law (High Courts and Magistrate Courts), the Botswana Police while others are just walk-ins.
He continued: “Such cases include defilement, rape, neglect, adoption, family conflict, marital problems, truancy, gender-based violence, marital discord, child trafficking and smuggling, co-parenting, child access, foster care etc. Cumulative cases received in the past year are 1,970 and out of these, 1,542 cases have been disposed of [making that 78% of cases] while 428 cases are ongoing at different stages and still handled with various stakeholders.” He pointed out that the challenges concerning case management include lack of availability of some clients in honouring appointments for meetings and prolonged assessments at times resulting in the council requesting courts of law to reschedule dates for the hearing of such cases.
The cases that have been presented mostly on a monthly average are defilement (15 cases); child custody (12 cases); co-parenting, rape (11 cases), and cohabitation. He, however, said from January to February 2022 a sharp increase has been realised in cases of defilement cases received from the police stations. He pleaded with all the male counterparts to refrain from sexual abuse and defiling young children. “Such behaviour is not acceptable and demands harsh penalties,” he said.