The Gender-Based Violence Inter Ministerial Committee (IMC) was announced recently is an all-male club save for one member. I am referring here at the gender of the Ministers. Based on impeccable evidence from within and without that GBV is dominantly and viciously perpetrated by men, I would have expected the club to be female-dominated all step of the way. The most recent Gender Based Violence Indicators Study reportedly indicates that over 2/3 of women in Botswana which translates to 67% have experienced some form of gender-based violence at some point in their lifetimes. And this has been the story for the longest time with physical, emotional and documentary evidence to that effect readily available.
It brings no logic or rationality at least in the bigger scheme of things GBV therefore, and for whatever political considerations, for a committee dealing with this physical and documentary evidence to be led by male Ministers. Wouldn’t it bring a lot of confidence if there were four female Ministers in the committee? For the victims of GBV, this should be an insult of the highest order. My bone of contention is whether the IMC will deliver on the GBV matter given the demonstrable inabilities or failures of similar IMCs elsewhere to do so. It is against this background that I argue the IMC on GBV will be a sham and a slap on the faces of GBV victims let alone the scourge in totality. A bit of context to this matter is important.
The Member of Parliament for Mahalapye East Hon Yandani Boko brought a parliamentary Motion in August 2020. The Motion read ‘That this Honourable House resolves to urge His Excellency the President Mokgweetsi Masisi to set up a Commission of Inquiry on gender-based violence, rape and other sexual offences as a matter of urgency in terms of the Commissions of Inquiry Act Cap 05:02.’ While debating the Motion, Botswana Democratic Party (BDP) MPs as has become the norm when opposition Motions are presented to parliament, rejected it with the Minister under whose portfolio the subject matter resides, Mrs Annah Mokgethi, telling the nation and particularly GBV victims that it was not urgent. Unbelievable! It should go without saying that the matter has never been urgent given the little to no demonstrable effort to decisively deal with it. This should explain why GBV grew exponentially to where it regrettably stands. Mrs Mokgethi’s position is pitifully at odds with the numbers and frequency at which GBV occurs every other minute of the day. What’s more, there has never been a budget specifically tailored to deal with it. The budget issue was explained by Hon Reatile during the debate on Hon Boko’s. The BDP subsequently adopted an amended Motion which gave rise to the Inter Ministerial Committee. The male Ministers of this committee are Hon Morwaeng, Hon Mmusi, Hon Molale, Hon Dikoloti and Hon Mokgethi who is the chairperson. Other members are Trade Unions, Business Botswana, Ntlo ya Dikgosi, Gender Commission, NGO Council amongst others. Conspicuously and probably for political expediency, there is no one from the opposition given that the original Motion originated therefrom.
Whereas it will be correctly argued that other organisations are represented in this committee, it should at the same time be borne in mind that it is a top heavy political committee like others. Like I have already stated above, GBV problem has been around with no demonstrable, strategic interventions in place occasioned by the politicians’ failure or inability to deal with it. If there have been any interventions, they should be few and far in between. Any process led by politicians has become increasingly inconsequential and of no force or effect simply because the very politicians have been aware of the GBV issue for as long as it reared its ugly head yet, they failed to deal with it at the infancy stages. Politicians are notorious for effectively covering their tracks and therefore not effective in coming up with long lasting solutions. In this instance, how does one expect the very politicians to open themselves to the rest of the committee members by availing all the necessary information? Wouldn’t it be the case of them hanging themselves and their predecessors to dry? Minister Mokgethi is quoted on one hand to have said ‘The Committee’s mission includes strengthening institutional capacity for implementation of the strategy….’ On the other, Hon Morwaeng said when debating last year’s SONA that ‘…The proposed terms of reference would equip the committee to deal with how to curb GBV, rape and other sexual offences as a matter of urgency’ (See the Daily News dated 2 December 2020 with the headline Inter Ministerial Committee terms of reference complete). Hon Morwaeng is talking urgency while his colleague doesn’t. Double speak on the same issue. I thought the GBV conundrum would be better served by a Commission of Inquiry as opposed to the IMC. As I write, there are so many IMCs in place for other interventions. It should be fair to argue that these other IMCs have delivered very little to nothing as I have already stated.
One Canadian Judge who has been involved in Commission of Inquiries argue that ‘One of the primary functions of public inquiries is fact-finding. They are often convened in the wake of public shock, horror, disillusionment, or skepticism in order to uncover the truth. Inquiries are, like the judiciary, independent; unlike the judiciary, they are often endowed with wide-ranging investigative powers. In following their mandates, Commissions of Inquiry are, ideally, free from partisan loyalties and better able than parliament or the legislatures to take a long-term view of the problem presented’ Commissions of Inquiry are criticised for taking too long and for being expensive. Those who know say the benefits accruing therefrom far outweigh the criticisms.
The nub of my concerns is that the IMC on GBV will essentially be investigating the failures of the very government that was, and it is dutifully expected to have dealt with from the beginning with the said Ministers directing the proceedings in the process. The Ministers potentially have ‘partisan loyalties’ in the context of how the process unfolds going forward as described by the Canadian Judge in the above quote. Nothing suggests remotely or otherwise that any of the Ministers would have brought a Motion on GBV had Hon Boko not done so. In any event, the chairperson of the IMC Minister Mokgethi publicly stated in parliament that the Motion was not urgent. By any account, this statement has far-reaching implications on whether the IMC will do justice to its intended objectives and outcomes. The jury is still out there. In the circumstances, it is more of a reactive than proactive intervention I argue.
At the end of it all, the IMC on GBV like its other similar IMCs that have come and gone, is more likely to be another talk show will very little if any, to decisively deal with the GBV scourge. Government cannot be the player and the referee in this game. It will be another sham and a slap on the faces of its victims in particular and the scourge in general. The all-male but one Ministerial composition doesn’t help the situation in the overall context of the subject matter given its utmost sensitivities whatever the political considerations are. Politicians history tells us, are preoccupied with political expediency resulting in them being poor in implementing their own decisions. Their offices are full of documents on GBV but here we are: still struggling if not failing to find solutions to the scourge due to no demonstrable political will to do so apart from the usual rhetoric. Notwithstanding the above, I concur there should be a fact-finding process on GBV but through a Commission of Inquiry. I am prepared to be persuaded otherwise as always. Judge for Yourself!
As always, kindly adhere to Covid-19 health protocols. It is our civic duty to do so for our own good.
