Stripping of woman at bus rank roundly condemned

ISAAC PINIELO
Correspondent | Friday August 20, 2010 00:00

'We want the police to assure us that they will investigate the matter,' Ntsabane says. 'Action should be taken against the culprits, including people who cheered them on.'  Stripping a woman simply because she is wearing a miniskirt is a violation of her human rights and a clear sign of disrespect for women, she adds. If the culprits are not pursued, women will be called on to the street for massive demonstrations, she emphasised. 'We live in a democratic country in which people may dress as they wish without fear of being harassed by anyone,' Ntsabane continues, noting that if people are offended by a certain of dress, they should follow the right channels instead of taking the law into their hands. But the Commander of Central Police Station, Superintendent Mokuedi Mphathi says no such incident has been reported to them so far.

After reading about the incident in newspapers, he dispatched his officers to the bus rank to investigate but found no leads to follow.

'It is not easy to initiate investigations when nothing has been reported to us,' he says.

Superintendent Mphathi emphasizes that it is an offence for people to strip anyone in public. Subsequent to the incident, the Secretary of the Botswana Bus, Truckers and Taxi Association, Dumisani Tafila, reportedly appealed to drivers of public transport vehicles to desist from stripping women at bus and taxi stations for whatever reason.

Botswana National Front (BNF) activist, Dr Kathleen Letshabo, also has expressed her dismay at the incident. In a letter published in Mmegi last week, Letshabo labelled the men who took part in stripping the woman as 'imbeciles and moronic bullies'.

'I am very angry,' she said in the letter. 'But if I can harness this anger towards something, I am also trying to reflect on sexism in Botswana as I have had to do many times in the recent past.

'This time I want to share my reflections with you, and to implore Batswana men and women to consider just how much damage this savagery might be inflicting on our collective image and our integrity as a people.'

Callers to youth radio station Yarona FM's The Real Inchilada programme recently also condemned the incident.