GBV has become a daily concern for a country believed to be a peace-loving nation with a strong cultural value of Botho. Over the past festive season, police recorded 298 reported offences against persons, with 181 of them being GBV-linked crimes. That is 60.7% of total reported crimes being gender-based.
About 93 women were raped between December 19, 2024 and January 5, 2025 according to official data shared by the Botswana Police Service (BPS), meaning that for a population of about 2.3 million people, close to 100 women were raped in a short period of two weeks. And that only includes reported cases.
Moreover, 25 murder cases were recorded during this period as compared to 20 cases recorded during the previous festive period with most of the murder cases reported to have occurred due to misunderstandings following drinking sprees.
In most cases, knives were used to inflict injury on the deceased and amongst these cases, eight were love-related where women were killed by their partners whilst two involved minors. In such cases, another minor was killed by her stepfather whilst the other was by a nanny.
This picture depicts a society that is developing a deep-rooted culture of violence against one another. These statistics sparked a serious public outcry across social media platforms with members of the public having mixed feelings on escalating GBV incidents with the majority of them calling for amendments of laws including the penal code. One would agree that these calls for change in the penal code for offences of stalking, harassment, and intimidation to be tightened as most of the murders and GBV incidents occurred because these issues were not attended to when they happened.
Some people, especially women who are usually the victims of GBV cases would have reported the matter to the police but the police did not have laws to use to charge the perpetrators. The public is currently putting their hope on the new administration to increase penalties and implement laws that will specifically focus on GBV issues and other crime trends that remain a concern.
As a matter of concern, laws surrounding the issue of bail should also be looked into since most of the GBV offences are committed by people on bail. Most women have been killed, while some have been left with permanent injuries after they were attacked by perpetrators whilst on bail. So far nothing concrete has been done but members of the public remain hopeful that the new government will move swiftly to address all areas of concern and restore peace and tranquillity that Botswana used to be known of.
However, when recently responding to the public outcry, President Duma Boko shared his view of the problem facing this country, arguing that it is much broader than violence perpetuated on people because of their gender. He said generally Batswana have turned out to be very violent people, independent of how they perpetuate it.
“We are a violent nation. We are violent, each and every one of us. We need to be honest. We are a violent society. We teach and reinforce violence in our schools. We socialise children into an understanding that order must be exacted through violence,” he said.
According to Boko, socialisation at schools happens through how students are punished for either failing or being delinquents has also exacerbated the crisis.
“When we violently punish students, this is exactly what entrenches violence into these children, who will eventually develop into problematic adolescents and, ultimately, into a violent nation. In the end, when violence erupts in pockets all over, we climb onto our moral high horse-those of us who have not been found out and we condemn from the rooftops, forgetting our own complicity,” Boko said then.
Recently when addressing this matter, the Minister of Youth and Gender Affairs, Lesego Chombo, expressed deep concern over the prevalence of GBV in Botswana. She acknowledged that GBV has long been a pervasive issue in the nation, significantly altering the lives of many individuals.
Chombo further emphasised that tackling GBV was not solely the responsibility of the government, but requires collective action from every Motswana. She urged every individual to take personal responsibility and engage in conversations within their families and communities.
When opening this year’s legal year, Chief Justice Gaolapelwe Ketlogetswe addressed GBV issues. He said in his consultation with the Commissioner of Police and magistrates, they have realised that there may be a need to standardise the procedures and processes in the handling of GBV and other domestic violence cases.
“This will require training, up-skilling and re-tooling of the soft skills of our magistrates handling such cases.
“This is a matter that needs urgent attention in the short term. We have faith that the government will fully support us in this regard,” Justice Ketlogetswe said.
Other crime trends that remain a concern and the public perhaps hopeful that the new administration will attend to is escalating cases of missing persons. This past festive holidays reports of missing people increased by double the number when compared to the 2023-2024 festive period from 25 cases to 51 cases.
Some of the missing included children aged between three and 14 who disappeared on rainy days observed during the Christmas and New Year holidays. About 30 missing persons were found in good condition whilst three were found dead from drowning. Eight missing persons, 10 being young females between the ages of 16 and 24 have still not yet been found.
Moreover, also a matter of concern is the rise in suicide cases with more young people taking their lives.
