Lifetime jail for rapists and corruption 8 7
Life imprisonment for rapists and corruption convicts - Kgafela
Member of Parliament for Mochudi West Mmusi Kgafela has suggested that courts must sentence rape convicts to life imprisonment to reduce the increasing cases of gender based violence in the country.
Debating the National Development Plan 11(NDP11) Midterm Review on Monday, Kgafela implored courts to consider tougher sentences to rapists and gender based violence convicts.
“When it comes to gender based violence it seems the courts are more lenient when convicting these perpetrators and in most cases these cases are dragged for so many years. Convicts should even be sentenced to life imprisonment,” said Kagafela.
The law states that where an act of rape is attended by violence resulting in injury to the victim, the person convicted of the act of rape shall be sentenced to a minimum term of 15 years imprisonment or to a maximum term of life imprisonment with or without corporal punishment.
Kgafela said that corruption convicts should also be sentenced to life imprisonment. “Corruption is a serious crime and the courts should be stiff on judgments like in other countries they are sentenced to life imprisonment in jail,” he said.
Member of Parliament for Mahalapye East, Yandani Boko said government should allocate more funds to fight gender based violence and even consider it as a subject in the school curriculum because the increasing number of cases indicates that there is a problem in the society.
“School curriculum must include Gender Based Violence as a subject to curb this problem. It should be taught just like Mathematics, English or Setswana,” Boko said.
Boko also said religious organisations and traditional leaders should change cultural perspectives and allow girls and women to wear clothes of their choice and change the perception that girls wearing miniskirts entice rapists.
“Young girls and women should be allowed to wear what makes them feel good. Dressing has nothing to do with the rapists, what about the cases of old women, toddlers and infants who are raped by these men. It’s not about wearing miniskirts,” argued Boko.
Recently Minister of Nationality, Immigration and Gender Affairs, Annah Mokgethi said Botswana has long been facing a gender-based violence crisis, with one in three women having experienced abuse in their lifetime, according to the 2018 National Relationship Study.
She said government will not relent in her efforts to uproot violence against women and children. “The COVID-19 pandemic presents an opportunity for us to recommit our efforts to achieve an end to GBV, which robs women and girls the privilege to enjoy their full birthrights and freedoms as enshrined in the Constitution of this country,” she added.
Botswana made a commitment at the 2019 Nairobi Summit on ICPD25 to reduce Gender Based Violence from 37 percent to 20 percent for women and from 21percent to 10 percent for men, which the Minister pointed can only be achieved through effective implementation of the National Strategy Towards Ending GBV.