FAMILIES SUFFER IN SILENCE
Father not reported to police after raping his daughter Child from rape already a primary school student Incident not reported to protect family name
Stepping Stones International (SSI) went from door to door this past weekend in Mochudi to sensitise families about issues of violence during the ongoing 16- days of activism against gender based violence.
The organisation mainly focuses on empowering children and youth, but decided this time around to tap into family issues in order to understand what happens in homes. SSI communications specialist Larona Lekgabe, said their findings were “upsetting and shattering.”
In one household, they found a woman who confessed that their father had raped her younger sister. The resultant child is already a primary school student. The family never shared the information as they wanted to protect the family name. But the victim has no peace.
On the other hand, the innocent child is a constant reminder of what happened between father and daughter and the family is disgusted.
“We have advised the family to inform the police about the matter or that they seek help in order to get proper counselling. We will be keeping an eye on this particular case,” Lekgabe said.
In another case, they found that a 50-year-old woman whose husband died a few years back is constantly being assaulted and abused by her in-laws. “The woman told us that she was once beaten and called a loudmouth when she tried to intervene when men wanted to have sex at a bar with one of the children after a drinking spree,” said Lekgabe.
She said that in other households, parents complained of being abused by their children. Tswana maxims such as ‘ngwana o tlhogo tona o sira rraagwe’ and ‘Ga eke e palelwa ke morwalo ele wa yone’ make it difficult for parents to report abuse. They become ashamed to admit that they have failed to groom their own children. In fact whenever a child misbehaves, people are quick to question who the parents are. What more about having to report that they are being abused!
She expressed concern that in cases where they found couples, men were very defensive when they touched on the issue of GBV. Most were not willing to open up or address the matter.
She said they intend to visit around 500 households but have only managed to reach 40 families.
Lekgabe said that HIV and violence go hand in hand hence their efforts to tackle both at the same time through their USAID-funded project called ‘ Breaking Barriers to an HIV free generation’ in which they offer victims support and counselling.
District Police Officer Commanding Lesole Mosimane lamented that issues of GBV were fast escalating in his area. He said that rape and defilement cases are on the rise.