In the face of rising incidents of gender-based violence (GBV), the Botswana Football League (BFL) has decided to use its popular platform to kick out this plague.
The league is bringing together players, officials, law makers, psychologists, psychiatrists and volunteers to fight GBV. The initiative comes in the wake of the untimely and gruesome death of former My Star contestant, Tshephang Mogale, who was brutally murdered by her ex-partner this past week.
Tshepang’s demise brought renewed attention on issues of GBV and reignited conversations around the issue of domestic violence. And for the first time, BFL does not want to be left behind.
BFL spokesperson, Prince Tshoswane, indicated that it is never late to join forces with other institutions and sensitize the nation about GBV. “BFL as an organisation has an underlying duty to respond and take action because GBV is now a national concern. Issues about GBV come afar. Everybody who has responded in the past has to be commended, but we all see that the situation on the ground is not getting any better,” he says.
Over the past few years, the BFL and local football has paid little or no attention to issues of GBV. As such, the recent decision by the league to act has been treated with caution as many believe it may be reactionary.
Tshoswane says while that may have been the case, the time for local football to stand against GBV has now come. “We believe we are an institution that groups a lot of people together. We seek to use this opportunity to condemn GBV through our players and everyone associated with football,” he explains.
In a circular released earlier this week, the BFL states that it shall commence the process of mobilising commercial partners, civil society organisations, philanthropists, and others, in setting up a help desk for victims of GBV. It further indicates that the help desk shall provide GBV victims with psychosocial services and legal services.
While Botswana Football Association (BFA) has a safeguarding officer who deals with such cases, Tshoswane says the BFL GBV desk office will be different. He is of the belief that a help desk is different from a safe guarding officer as they mostly deal with issues of professional etiquette.
“The help desk will soon be functional. Of course, it will be different from safeguarding. Mind you that safeguarding is more about issues in relation to professional etiquette in the working environment,” he elaborated.
Questioned on how the help desk will function and overall help victims, Tshoswane could not go much into details as it is yet to be formulated. “I cannot divulge more information about it as of now, but it will give the victim a platform to report their cases without necessarily revealing their identity. After the report is done, BFL will immediately dispatch lawyers and psychologists to attend the case.”
While the help desk will be setup and functional in due course, the BFL spokesperson says a number of lawyers and volunteers have already come forward to offer their services. He says once everything is in motion and ready, they will make it public knowledge.
The circular further states that ‘anyone being accused of GBV shall immediately be banned from all BFL activities, pending the effective prosecution and finalisation of their matter by a competent authority’. Giving more clarity, Tshoswane indicated that the BFL opted to take stringent measures as there has been no improvement in reduction of GBV.
“The intention is to give everyone a fair trial. But if the case is severe, a ban will follow. In short it is a ban from our side until otherwise advised by relevant authorities,” he says.
In relation to the issue of the BFL banning players, when it comes to their payment with their respective clubs; Tshoswane noted that ‘contracts are between clubs and players.’ “In that case, the two shall discuss how they solve payment issues while the player faces a ban in case they are caught on the wrong side of committing GBV. Regardless of the offence, we are not aiming to embarrass the perpetrators but we also want to rehabilitate them,” he says.
