Defilement on the rise in Tsabong
Zolani Kraai | Tuesday May 30, 2023 06:00
A visibly concerned Tsabong Police station commander, Superintendent Christopher Tlhapi -David said in an interview that most cases affect school going children especially those from Tsabong Unified Secondary School.
“We sometimes realise during our investigations that some children are from as far as BoRaVast catchment (Bokspits, Rappels, Vaalhoek, and Struizendam) area including those from Middlepits catchment area, with the same pool ending up admitted at Tsabong Unified School upon completion of their junior schooling from Kgologano Junior Secondary School,” he said.
Tlhapi-David said lack of parental guidance and poor guardianship is the strongest driving factor of the social ill. He revealed that some recorded cases were initially not reported to the police until the victim starts showing signs of light to medium pregnancy thus leading to the teachers eventually noticing the student’s physical changes.
He added that some parents entirely don’t report, and as such his office brings forward guardians, whom mostly are parents to the wrath of the law for ignoring their responsibilities of either taking care of their children or not reporting matters. “We have also established during our past investigations that some of the girls who fall victim to defilement are second or more time victims, as they continue to indulge in unprotected sex while schooling and they often and continuously fall pregnant even when readmitted back to school,” Tlhapi-David said.
“Offences against morality are very high in the Tsabong policing area with 35 cases reported in 2022 and 10 in 2023, and as such we have put in place structures such as Gender Protection Unit which seeks to address these distressing social ills while also focusing on all genders by raising awareness on defilement, pregnancy and gender based violence.”
He further said in addressing the issues, they assigned plain clothes officers working in collaboration with other stakeholders to combat the scourge and engage the community households on matters related to GVB while also raising awareness on defilement matters. Regarding rape matters, the Tsabong police boss shared that most cases arise from instances where victims are attacked when retiring from night drinking sprees. Tlhapi-David added that 26 cases of rape were recorded in 2022 and 11 in 2023.
Of the 26 cases recorded in 2022 by his office, 14 have been registered with the Tsabong Magistrate’s Court while litigation processes are ongoing. As for the 11 rape cases recorded this year, seven are already registered with the magistrate.
With regards to the defilement cases, Tlhapi-David said two cases have been registered for litigation but was quick to state that often the backlog is due to ongoing investigations and case management protocols at the Magistrate’s Court.
Notwithstanding, stakeholders like government departments, parastatals and church ministers recently convened at the Tsabong kgotla and mall to seek God’s intervention in addressing social ills that are affecting their village.
Though not impressed with the turnout of the youth at both events, Kgosi David Toto II said the aim of the entire programme was to address concerns by the community about recent spate of suicide and murder incidents, which are a rare phenomenal experience in the village. Toto II, who is also member of Ntlo ya Dikgosi said most of the incidents involve the youth, saying in some instances the troubles are allegedly motivated by drug intake especially motokwane and excessive alcohol use.