The children from this small village located in the North West of Botswana suffer perpetual cruelty at the hands of men old enough to be their parents or guardians. The village remains a ‘hub’ of rapists with disturbing cases involving children being recorded regularly. Statistics from the Botswana Police Service show that in 2023, the Sehithwa police station recorded nine rape cases of which four involved minors aged less than 12 years and 13 years. In 2024, the station recorded 11 rape cases of which five involved minors and six cases of defilement (up to 18 years).
Already, by the start of 2025 the area has recorded two cases of defilement with one involving a minor and another 16-year-old. Moreover, the police are currently investigating a case in which an eight-year-old girl was raped by a 41-year-old man, who happens to be the child’s neighbour. In an effort to curb this scourge, back in 2023 government increased penalties against sexual offenders. However, the adjustment in penalties has not been a deterrent as sex offences continue to take place unabated, anyway. Through their preliminary investigations, police said they discovered that the perpetrator started sexually assaulting the minor, who stays with her grandmother, from 2023 when she was doing standard one. Then, the suspect would buy sweets and other snacks to entice the then six-year-old girl and subsequently rape her. Narrating the ordeal to Mmegi, Sehithwa police station commander, Superintendent Molly Lebala-Moduke said the neighbour's cruelty proceeded for two years unnoticed.
However, the culprit’s lick ran out when last week the child visited her mother in Maun where she resides. “The victim disclosed to her mother what had been going on for the past two years and she reported the matter to the police,” explained Lebala-Moduke. “We have since arrested the suspect, charged (him) with rape and launched investigations surrounding the matter,” she said. Furthermore, Lebala-Moduke said they were investigating a defilement case in which a 16-year-old girl was sexually assaulted by an older man. She said the incident was discovered by the teenage girl’s teachers after establishing that she was pregnant and reported the matter to the police. The police have noted with great concern the increase of rape cases involving minors in the area especially that their interventions seem to be falling on deaf ears. This nerve-wreaking trend has become a norm despite several interventions by the police and other stakeholders to nip the rape incidents in the bud. Lebala-Moduke said most of the children are raped by known people such as stepfathers, fathers, close family members, family friends and neighbours. She said usually these children are raped or defiled when their parents have left them home alone. “Usually, the parents would leave their children unattended spending most of their time at the cattle posts or lands and older men would take advantage of their vulnerability. “In some cases, the children were raped or defiled by herdsmen after visiting their parents at the cattleposts. Most of these herdsmen were illiterate with some being school dropouts who do not care about the rule of law especially GBV related issues,” she added. The Sehithwa policing area is populated by Baherero and Bakgalagadi tribes.
There is a belief that historically, it was not wrong for an elderly to either impregnate a minor or sexually molest any minor for years as assailants remained unpunished. This legend is according to the inhabitants’ traditions and beliefs. That has resulted in most culprits going unpunished as the victims or even the family of the victims do not report such cases. However, with efforts in place to deal with such vices, more of these cases are now coming out as more girls do open up to their teachers who report such cases to the police and perpetrators are brought before justice. Despite these efforts, these cases remain a concern as men continue to sexually violate minors. Lebala-Moduke said they will continue to hold community outreach programmes including kgotla meetings to sensetise men about such cases in order to curb escalating GBV cases in the area. “This coming Sunday we will be hosting a prayer at Toteng village scheduled to pray for these social ills. We have invited different churches. “We have tried numerous interventions and hope things might change with the intervention of the word of God,” she said.
