'GBV Major Contributor In 'Missing Person' Cases'
Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Monday March 15, 2021 20:31
He said this during a stakeholder meeting that addressed issues of missing persons in Boteti West, which was held at the Main Kgotla here.
According to Manji, there is a high possibility that some of the GBV cases are linked to missing persons in his policing area.
He said some of the abused people go missing because they would be trying to run away from abuse at their households.
When speaking about the statistics in his area, which covers Letlhakane, Orapa and Rakops, Manji said they recorded a total of 191 cases of GBV in 2020 as compared to 282 in 2019.
The police boss said they registered one case of murder in Letlhakane, none in Orapa and one in Rakops for the year 2019. He further said each police station registered one case of murder in 2020.
Manji added that in 2019, Letlhakane recorded 95 cases of rape followed by Rakops and Orapa respectively with 19 and 11 cases as compared to an overall total of 113 cases recorded in 2020. “Letlhakane also registered the highest number of defilement cases in 2019 with 127 followed by Orapa and Rakops, which each recorded 9. The number declined in Letlhakane in 2020 as they recorded 36 followed by Orapa and Rakops, which respectively registered 14 and 10 cases,” Manji added.
He said since the beginning of the year, Letlhakane has registered 16 cases of defilement and Orapa together with Rakops recorded two cases each.
He indicated that his policing area recorded a total of 15 threat to kill cases in 2020 as compared to eight registered in 2019. He further said overall Letlhakane recorded 230 cases of GBV in 2019, which showed a significant decline in 2020 after it registered 125 cases. Manji said Orapa registered 20 cases in 2019 as compared to 36 in 2020. He shared that Rakops recorded a total of 32 cases in 2019 and dropped to 30 cases in 2020.
In his address, Letlhakane station commander, Michael Maphephu encouraged residents to report GBV cases and not to be scared of the numbers. He said the statistics prove that some GBV cases exist and some of them go unreported.
Maphephu further shared that they have a problem with their toll-free number, but that should not deter them from reporting GBV cases.