Sebina saga has exposed Tswana society�s calibre!
Michael Dingake | Tuesday May 17, 2016 15:31
The Minister didn’t allege any fabrication or interference with his cellphone like the Assistant Minister implicated in the current Sebina scandal did. Nor was there any demonstration of revulsion from any quarter, not even from the moralistic religious community. There wasn’t any pontification on society morals. It was all quiet. I felt extremely lonely in my denunciation of the incident, as vulgar and irresponsible behaviour by a senior government official, in my weekly column. Whatever happened to Batswana moral compass? I asked myself. How can men in such lofty places speak so uninhibited about their promiscuity with young girls? Subsequently when the Minister bit the dust in the 2014 general elections, I wondered whether it was a delayed reaction from the voters against the FB post incident or coincidental! I had been devastated and the community’s silence knocked me for a six. I was disgusted. Had Judge Mabel Jansen (SA) uttered her remark about rape, being the culture of black men, at the time, I’d have brooded over the remark before venting my condemnation of her as racist!
Is promiscuous sexual abuse of young girls a male Batswana passtime? May it be the reason why our government isn’t moved by women’s plea to sign the SADC protocol on gender equality? Recently on Gabz Fm, ‘Breakfast with Reg,’ programme, a caller suggested Batswana should review the applicability of Tswana maxims in today’s milieu. Reggie dismissed him. Rightly so, I thought! Idioms are the cream of language. But can it be so when expressions like: Tsa etelelwa ke namagadi pele di wela ka lengope (Cattle led by a cow will fall into a cavernous hole), are in vogue? Shall women empowerment ever see the light of day while our language brims with figures of speech scorning women leadership?
Sebina saga may change male attitude to women. Facebook may after all, be a godsend to mobilise and direct the focus of Batswana on issues urgent, crucial and material. FB has virtually become a national auditorium where the ears, the eyes, minds and the voices of Batswana converge to slug it out in debate to compel their hands to iron cultural creases and debate the seamy side of our politico-social life. Burning current cultural issues demand instant attention; they brook no delays. The bumbling, in-adequate functioning of the police service and other government departments need to be hauled before the court of public opinion and thoroughly cross-examined. Why do police act swiftly against public protestors but drag their feet when crime is reported?
Let’s look at a few points emerging from the Sebina Saga: One, the government looks more and more frivolous by the day through their statements and responses to questions of public interest. Cabinet Ministers - Education and Defence, Justice and Security – try to divert attention from Sebina by belated reporting of 407 cases they covered before Sebina scandal: They inadvertently expose their failure to live up to expectations. MoESD writes a ‘letter to Amon and others,’ which reads like a jilted lover’s, letter pleading for love-back. “Cllr Amon is therefore not alone….”argues her Ladyship in extenuation.
Well Sebina is indeed a microcosm of Botswana. It therefore proves a pattern of MoESD deficiencies. 407 schoolchildren impregnated in the past 12 months, without any drastic action against the culprits, that we know of; and without any preventive plans in the form of codes of conduct for teachers to stem the tidal tendency! Would the Minister have made her pathetic mitigation plea, that Amon was not alone, had she known what is now trending in the FB, namely that Amon started sleeping with the girl when she was doing Form I? Which means she was only 12 when her defilement started!
Defence, Justice and Security Minister repeats his colleague’s 407 cases gone before, without the public knowledge; how did he handle this avalanche of sexual abuse, defilement and rape of schoolchildren? Is his job to moan the incapacity of his Ministry or to assure the public that his Ministry is wrestling with crime as and when it occurs? We know he’s famous for deporting asylum seekers without batting an eyelid, irrespective of their fate at their destination. Why does he dally and procrastinate when called upon to investigate and arrest law-breakers, who stalk classroom corridors to pounce on unwitting victims. The Ministers’ attempt to cover their deficiencies by citing unattended backlog must be questioned why and how they accrued the backlog!
Two, the governing party’s SG, thinks giving parents first opportunity to discuss within family before officialdom, can intervene is kosher and proper in the circumstances. No, Mr Secretary General, parents are unqualified to probe criminal allegations impacting on their next-of-kin.
They don’t know the law and if they did, they’ll deliberately undermine it. Parents are largely responsible for the escalation of crimes of defilement, incest and rape of their daughters and close relatives. They refuse to report sexual misconduct committed by husbands brothers and uncles. It’s a scandal. “Batho batla reng?” The route isn’t recommended. It’s a precipice towards further escalation of this type of scandal. It’ll retard our first step towards human rights, gender equality and justice for all.
Three, the Sebina scandal is multidimensional. The rich versus the poor, the men versus the women, the governors versus the governed, parents versus the children. The calibre of Tswana society is like the king without clothes. It is morally bankrupt!