I�m Kedibonye Amon
Thalefang Charles | Friday June 3, 2016 15:05
A long time ago, before Facebook and Twitter, students exposed others’ salacious stories on the walls of school bathrooms.
The focus would mainly be on who slept with who, what colour is Matshidiso’s panty, how Rose passed the history test, who caused the ‘love pimple’ on Thato’s forehead and what the teacher ate the previous night.
The bathroom walls or as colloquially expressed, the toilet, used to be a powerful school tabloid with ghost writers exposing damning, and often times malicious allegations about anyone.
With the advent of new media the damning and spiteful exposés have left the toilet walls and are now online, shared publicly with the rest of the world.
The purveyors no longer run to the toilets with marking pens to publish their dirt.
It is now done from the luxury and privacy of their mobile phones without any fear that there will be witnesses to catch them while busy gossip-mongering.
Social media has given almost everyone the power and ability to expose any wrongdoings, alleged or not.
From irresponsible parents, cheating partners, criminals, con-artists, chancers and paedophiles in power, social media has given the people a powerful voice where the traditional media has failed.
Although some are already saying social media is just online toilet journalism on steroids, it is in the midst of that toilet journalism that we find real heroines that ignited a growing movement of responsible citizens that vows to never forget.
The movement was ignited by the daring and bold action of a niece who was fed up and whom society and the media failed to help.
Many know little about Kedibonye Amon (pseudonym… probably), the heroine that exposed what came to be known as the Sebina saga.
This unsung heroine whose Facebook profile picture quotes Herbert Ward’s powerful words, “Child abuse casts a shadow the length of a lifetime” exposed her randy ‘uncle’.
Kedibonye was sickened by what her uncle was doing to them and crying out for help, desperate for justice. Social media became her refuge.
She posted on Facebook in a public group called Fight Crime In Gaborone saying, “My uncle has been abusing us for a long time and this has been hidden by parents. O ithwadisitse ma couz and ebo a isiwa SA for abortion. Jaanong ba bata go duela batsadi ba ngwana gore kgang ska ya tswa. We liv in fear of this man who is a councilor ko Sebina. I overheard him bragging gore he will survive it. Last night I stole his phone and I saw his conversation with Fedilis Molao. Ke tsere di screenshots and I want to share them with everyone out there gore ba bone the terrible life we are living. What sickens me is that the assistant minister of education supports this man. And they even paid off The Voice” (sic).
Kedibonye posted the screenshots of the supposed Facebook communication of Molao and uncle Amon.
Although Molao denies the communication saying his phone was ‘hacked’ with a case lodged and still being investigated, and The Voice newspaper too refuting being bought to spike a story, the movement has began.
Kedibonye’s action has given everyone hope that if parents, society, government and media neglects one, there is now a bigger and stronger shoulder to lean on.
Kedibonye is our own version of Edward Snowden.
We might not know her, but her heroic action touched us in many ways.
Today the Sebina saga exposed by Kedibonye is threatening to shake up Botswana’s cabinet and inspired men, women and children to say ‘Stop child abuse now!’. She is the faceless heroine that tomorrow, as the #IShallNotForget activists fighting women and child abuse march the streets of Gaborone, should always remember.
Without her, these paedophiles in power would still be eyeing young children knowing that they are untouchable.
Kedibonye’s action has also given new hope to social media from turning into more than a nuisance online toilet journalism platform. We can now be rest assured that if everyone fails us, social media will help us.
After the revelations of the Sebina saga it was discovered that Kedibonye has been fighting to be heard.
In 2015 she sent a message to the controversial Dan Kenosi Facebook page begging for help and rescue from the randy uncle.
Although the Dan Kenosi page posted her plea, it did not yield enough help for the abused. Kedibonye did not just let her story die, she waited for the right ammunition that would get everyone involved.
She understood the power of social media. Ever since Kedibonye’s exposé there have been many other revelations of parents behaving badly and not meeting their responsibilities.
Today, cheating partners, shady characters and paedophiles in power understand that social media is actually not toilet journalism, but a powerful tool for online community journalism that can change the world. Of course like any other media, there are bad elements out there, but we should commend the bravery of all the Kedibonye Amons out there.