Dikgosi Urged To Whip Criminals
Lesedi Mkhutshwa | Monday May 20, 2019 15:08
When delivery a keynote address during the recent No.1 District cluster awards ceremony, Khuwe raised a concern about the high numbers of minor crimes in their cluster.
He said so far minor crimes are leading prevalent and preventable offences recorded by Botswana Police Service (BPS) in No.1 District.
Khuwe said misdemeanours waste BPS resources and should be dealt directly by community leaders at the village customary courts.
He added that chiefs should deal directly with minor crimes such as common assault and theft because in most cases when parents report such crimes to the customary courts, they are referred to police stations.
“In my view when a parent comes to the customary court to report minor crimes, he or she will be crying out for help.
The child will be out of order and should be given corporal punishment so that she or he could reform from the unlawful acts,” he said. He also said that such misdemeanours hinder the police from dealing with major crimes such as murder and they also increase the workload of police.
The worried village leader said that in the past it was rare to see a man chasing after a woman with an axe, which seems to be common nowadays.
“What are we teaching the young generation? Do you want them to grow into murderers and not respecting women? It all starts at home, children should learn from their elders that killing is not tolerable and other unlawful acts have a negative impact on the economy,” he said.
Khuwe encouraged the community as a whole to work collectively through clusters to fight against crime. He said that Botswana is known as a compassionate and caring nation and other good things and not unacceptable behaviour therefore people should start abiding by their constitutional and moral code of law.
Giving the objectives of the event No.1 District crime prevention executive committee, chairperson Kgosi Paul Motshwane of Gerald Estate said No.1 District has recorded a total of 6,226 prevalent and preventable offences in 2018 as compared to 6,120 that was registered in 2017.
He said the most recorded crime is theft common which in 2018 they registered 2,445 cases in comparison to 2017 where they recorded 2,353.
Motshwane added that in 2018 they registered 1,382 unlike in 2017 were they recorded 1,400 cases of assault common and he also mentioned other offenses such as common nuisance, drugs and the use of insulting language which are nerve racking.
He said that in the past when drugs are concerned they only spoke about marijuana (motekwana) but nowadays its different because they are dealing with other drugs such as, crack, and methcathinone popularly known as cat, madaena, and cocaine.
He said that they have 50 clusters under No.1 District of which a few did not perform very well.
He said that even though their clusters face some hiccups they have assisted the police in fighting crime in their area. Montshwane quoted the commissioners past speech where he spoke about Botswana’s performance globally.
“Botswana Police service is ranked number one in Africa and 15 in the world because of the clusters good work. Keep it up and you deserve a pat on the back and that is why we are here today,” he said.
He also raised a concern about the alarming numbers of cattle rustled in their areas which is giving them a terrible headache but believe that it will be a thing of the past because they have formed a committee which will assist in fighting misconducts.