Report of Botswana rape statistics raises doubts

Areport of the World Population Review an online database of demographic statistics – places Botswana at number 1 among countries of the world on sexual violence according to statistics by country in 2022.

But the report is itself contradictory. It is not clear what methodology was used to collect the data or to analyse it given the small population size of Botswana when compared to countries like South Africa or the United States of America, where it is said rape happens every one to two minutes in each state.

Botswana is said to lead the pack in rape offences with 92.93 percent, followed by Lesotho with 82. 68, South Africa at 72, 10, Bermuda 67, 29, and Sweden 63, 54 percent on the top five, while Saint Kitts and Nevis are tied at number 10 with 28.62 percent. However, the report says, tongue in cheek, that accurate statistics regarding rape are notoriously difficult to obtain.

“The biggest complication is that most victims of sexual violence choose not to report it. There are many possible reasons for this decision including: embarrassment, victim shaming, fear of reprisal from the rapist, even fear of how the victim’s own family will react,” the report says.

Also, many countries’ laws against sexual assault are insufficient, inconsistent, or not regularly enforced. This can leave the victim convinced that getting law enforcement involved will do no good, and in some cases could actually make things worse instead of better, the report adds.

How then did World Population review arrive at a conclusion that Botswana is the rape capital of the world, confounds logic! And this is even more so considering the fact that it uses outdated data from as far back as 2010. It says that for the year 2010, South Africa had the highest rate of rape in the world at 132.4 incidents per 100,000 people. In a survey released by the South African Medical Research Council in 2009, approximately one in four men admitted to committing rape. However, the government in South Africa is working to address this dysfunction, and proponents maintain that the rate has dropped to 72.1 in 2019/20 reporting season.

Programmes Director at Botswana Gender Based Violence Prevention and Support Centre (BGBVC) Kabelo Poloko tells this publication that indeed, sexual violence is still a concern in Botswana. He clarified that these statistics end up alarming because most of the cases are from way back.

“Sexual violence is high even most of these cases go unreported due to many factors including fear of stigma and discrimination and many other factors,” he said