Women and children continue to suffer at the hands of men who, in their heads, seem to view them as objects they can abuse to satisfy their sick, disgusting tendencies. Hardly a day goes by without reports of a woman, an elderly woman, or a child being raped! Where are we going as Batswana? Rapists have instilled fear into people’s lives; there is no haven for anyone anymore as people live in fear not only walking the streets, but also inside their own homes. Recently, there was an article about an elderly woman who was raped by the same culprit a second time. The young man was sentenced to 10 years for the first rape incident, was released, and went back to rape the same elderly woman nine years after his release. There are several questions that come to mind: Is our rehabilitation system working? And also: are we not concerned with the safety of the elderly if a 105-year-old woman is left to sleep alone in a house?
Perhaps government should put more resources into assessing our rehabilitation system because the current situation shows that most of the courts are handling cases of repeat offenders; some even have multiple cases to answer before the courts on different crimes committed.
