Masisi and the war against crime
Pini Bothoko | Monday April 4, 2022 08:18
Under Masisi’s term, mushrooming of cash-in-transit heists was experienced as robbers continued to find their way into businesses, over powering the police and security guards and making off with large sums of money despite the police’s determination to fight the scourge.
Criminals have been wreaking havoc, a situation that was worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. The robberies surfaced increasingly in the year 2021 with weekly occurrences of crime in the country’s capital city, something that kept the police on their toes.
Armed robbers continued to stage heists overpowering security guards at some point even the police and made away with large sums of money. This forced the Minister of Defence, Justice and Security, Kagiso Mmusi to intervene and instruct the police to eliminate petty crimes and those who committed such acts in whatever form possible.
In one of the robberies that left the nation in shock and remained unsolved to date, robbers made away with money close to P9 million in cash at Block 6 in Gaborone and the money was never recovered. In yet another heist, armed robbers also overpowered G4S Security guards at Middlestar shopping mall and made away with cash amounting to P7.4 million, the money that was also never recovered.
After steeping into office on his first State of National Address (SONA), Masisi announced that the government has deployed cutting-edge crime fighting technology geared towards enhancing police capabilities. He also said in particular, the Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) surveillance system deployed in Gaborone continues to show improvement in crime prevention and detection, especially with regard to smash and grab incidents which used to terrorise motorists around the city. The President said the evidence retrieved from the surveillance system has proven to be effective in expediting police investigations and prosecutions. However, under his tenure, petty crime spiraled out of control as people continue to live in constant fear of criminals even in the comfort of their homes and cars, particularly in the Greater Gaborone.
Furthermore, Masisi stated that in order to attain public safety, the government has prioritised the reduction of violent and intrusive crimes such as robberies and break-ins as well as serious crimes like murder, rape and threat to kill.
Despite Masisi’s promises to fight crime when stepping into office, there has been a sharp increase in petty crime as people continue to live in constant fear of criminals as they are attacked by criminals. People are attacked and robbed at bus stops, speed humps and by the traffic lights, which have now become crime hot spots especially in Gaborone.
In responding to the scourge, the police recently resolved to adopt a zero-tolerance stance against crime. Officers vowed to enhance visibility by introducing drone patrols and surveillance at crime hotspots and borderlines. The year 2020 saw a sharp decline of 22.8% in total crime, a 16.5% increase was recorded in 2021. However, a notable increase was realised, especially in cases of break-ins and robbery with the latter going up by 18.6% and for the first time the country experienced a spate of armed robberies targeting cash-in-transit vehicles.
Moreover, crimes of passion remain a concern as women continue to lose their lives at the hands of their male lovers. For years, men have been exhibiting frightening lack of anger with their insecurities towards their partners identified as the root cause.
This situation was worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic as family members demonstrated behaviour that their families were not aware of. Significant increases were also recorded in Gender-Based Violence (GBV) related crimes like murder with 23.5%, rape with 10%, defilement with 11% and threat to kill with 16%. The perpetrators of the crimes are mostly men, some of whom are close family members like uncles, fathers and stepfathers and partners.
The raping of women and girls also increased drastically as women live in deep fear of rapists who attack them in their sleep and violate them. The majority of women were raped by known people like casual friends, ex boyfriends or people they had spent the night entertaining themselves drinking alcohol together at entertainment places with only a few incidents in which women were pounced on by strangers when walking alone at night.
However, addressing the nation delivering 2021 SONA, Masisi revealed that significant improvements towards addressing GBV have been made since 2020 stating that the Botswana Police Service (BPS) introduced a toll-free number for reporting GBV and established Gender and Child Protection units in April 2021. Masisi further stated that a sex offenders’ registry Act to record and publicise names and particulars of all persons convicted of sexual offences, was developed in December 2020.