Lets amplify voices of women and girls to end GBV

Gender Based Violence ( GBV) is slowly becoming the number one threat to the lives of women and girls around the country.

It has also been identified as one of the critical issues that impede women and girls from fully enjoying their human rights and unleashing their potential. This year, the 16 Days of Activism against GBV is held under the theme, ‘ Activism to End Violence against Women and Girls’. Shockingly more than 70 percent of women in Botswana are said to have experienced physical or sexual abuse according to the United Nations Population Fund. This is more than double the global average rate, and only points to the fact that we have a pandemic in our hands. Government, nongovernmental organisations, civil society, and the general public are concerned about these rising statistics. Women and girls now live in constant fear, ever wondering who will be next? They wonder about what they need to do or not do to prevent this evil from befalling them. Fear has engulfed their everyday lives. Are we failing to deal with the real issues to rid our society of this evil monster? How did we even get here in the first place? And how do we overcome this monster? Several analogies, views and opinions have been widely shared as to what the problem is. Some have opined that our society is paying a high price for the continued empowerment of the girl child at the expense of the boy child, who has been deliberately and systematically sidelined and neglected ever since the advent of the women’s lib movement.

Others attribute this sorry state to the few positive male role models in our communities. They say that in the absence of father figures, male children often develop a metaphor of authority, and cannot control themselves emotionally and physically.

Many have also posed very relevant questions; Why are men revolting? How do men and women manifest anger and how does bitterness and resentment play in each gendered being? We might not have answers to all these questions. But one thing that’s certain is that we cannot continue to have women suffer and die at the hands of those that profess to love them, those that vow to care and protect them. There is no reason or logic that can be advanced to justify GBV. This ultimate betrayal has to stop, and stop now. Government has to move quickly to intensify the implementation of the National Strategy Towards Ending GBV. This Strategy focuses on the comprehensive care and support of GBV survivors; the Prevention of new GBV incidences; Strengthening national capacity to address GBV; Improving efficiency and effectiveness of the coordination and management of the national GBV response; and Strategic information and knowledge management on GBV. It is disheartening to also realise that while we all seem to be worried about this challenge, many in the community continue to shield and protect perpetrators. It is high time that communities around the country are empowered to come up with their own solutions to end GBV. Communities need to play a proactive role and devise sustainable gender transformative programmes that deal with GBV including breaking the silence on this evil.

DON’T BAN PITBULLS – YET

Via good old cultural osmosis, Botswana is - like South Africa, agitating for official ban on the keeping of pitbulls. This breed of dogs is very dangerous and as the debate of whether or not to keep them rages, some in the “ban” camp are posting pictures of intimidating pitbulls to make the obvious impression. Those pictures are indeed more than a thousand words because some of the dogs are so buffed up you would think that if they are not roaming around terrorising pedestrians, then they are in the gym lifting weights. Some actually walk around dramatic and funnylike human weightlifters. There is a picture of a really menacing brown pitbull that is as ripped as Arnold

Schwarzenegger was in 1974 when he won Mr. Universe. As this debate rages, pitbull and gym owners would do well to clarify whether some pitbulls work out at the gym. We can’t be sure but their extraordinary strength strongly suggests they do – which means that gyms are themselves not safe. The banning issue is tricky because these dogs are captive and if it has to happen, the banning has to target the captors – the owners. Each time prisoners escape ( especially that notorious guy with bee- stung lips who is never going to win a Mr. Zimbabwe contest) everybody blames the Botswana Prisons Service.

Why are we applying a different standard with regard to pitbulls temporarily escaping from their captors and causing havoc outside their prisons? Thankfully, there is a solution to this issue. Practically all pitbull owners are deeppocketed and collectively have wealth thrice Lesotho’s GDP.

What that means is that they can buy their own country where they can rear pitbulls with no legal restrictions. How do they buy that land? Simple: the government plans to allocate 100 000 residential plots to about as many broke Batswana countrywide. These rich pitbull owners should buy those plots from the broke owners. They should then ask the government to allocate them a contiguous land mass equivalent to the disparate plots which they would give back.

If that fails as well, then the government will have to ban pitbull owners – and release the pitbulls back into the wild to join lions, leopards and other predators. Naturally, such action would mean ownership of the pitbulls falls to westerners – the racially- entitled and self- appointed absentee owners of all the wild animals in Sub- Saharan Africa.

SHOULD WE EAT GRASS?

Today all the foods that we are encouraged to eat also have side effects. Tomatoes help protect brain health and combat diseases like diabetes, stroke and heart disease. However, those same tomatoes can also have germs that cause foodborne illnesses thus lowering the body’s ability to fight germs and sickness. They can also worsen existing conditions like gastroesophageal reflux and migraine.

All superfoods like spinach, turmeric and white meat also have side effects. So, what should we eat? Why not join the church of a South African pastor Lesego Daniel and eat grass like his followers do? Come to think of it, western science has never said eating grass is unhealthy. The beauty of belonging to Daniel’s church is that not only does he put congregants out to pasture on the church’s premises in Garankuwa, he also aids digestion by kicking congregants in the stomach after they eat the grass. Even high- end restaurants at the Gaborone CBD don’t offer this full customer service.

WHO CREATED THE BLACK MAN?

In South Africa, emotions about the pitbull issue are rawer than they are in Botswana. A white woman, a pitbull owner, is now in hot water after saying that black men and not pitbulls, should be killed. This is how she rationalises her argument: “God created those animals. Who created the black man? Do you think God did, I don’t think so.” In their anger, black people have generally failed to make a clinical analysis of the quite separate issue that this woman raises about the creation of the black man.

She is referring to the Judeo- Christian God who was only introduced to the black man a little over 200 years ago. And let’s not forget that not all black people believe in this God. The woman should have been asked to provide more enlightenment on this vexing issue because theories vary. Some black parents still tell their children that babies are bought from the hospital. Others say it is something else and they say that something else in a low voice and a mischievous face.

REDUCE TEACHERS’ SALARIES

Civil servants are always asking for more money from the government. The latter’s ham- handed negotiators at the Public Service Bargaining Council never seem to consider the alternative scenario – reducing the salaries.

These negotiators can actually make a very strong case if they browse through Facebook and collect evidence. Examples: “Ke rekisa ditlou” from someone selling Bambara groundnuts – “ditloo” in Setswana; “Ke rekisa dithabi” from someone selling fish – ditlhapi in Setswana; and a picture of a couple celebrating its seventh anniversary captioned with “Happy 7th unnecessary.” Pay should be linked to performance and the performance of teachers is reflected in the quality of writing of their products.