Rape in Botswana: A National Shame

2000 (Abridged by SpeakOut!)

In one of the most peaceful and admired countries in Africa, violence against women is rampant. Women in Botswana are beaten and raped by their male partners on a daily, if not hourly basis. Very little is being done to prevent the violence or to protect the victims.

In Southern Africa it is estimated that a quarter to one half of all women are abused by their partners. In South Africa a woman is raped every 35 seconds and one in two women will be raped in their lifetime.

In Botswana an average of two cases of rape are reported a day. In Francistown, the second largest urban area, a woman reports a case of domestic violence at courts and police stations every five minutes. About 60 percent of Botswana women have been a victim of gender violence in the last five years, a quarter have been multiple sufferers. The judiciary system and its support services spend at least 30 percent of their time on cases involving violence against women. 1

Research into the existence and situation of abused women in Botswana began in the mid-1980s, 20 years after independence. In 1993 the NGO Network for Women's Rights and the NGO Coalition were formed, both of which acknowledged violence against women as a national problem requiring urgent attention.

The Fourth UN World Conference on Women in Beijing in 1995 led to a new cooperation between NGOs and government that identified six critical areas of concern including violence against women. 2 Governments that attended Beijing pledged to remove all forms of discrimination and violence against women and children.

Vision 2016, a document designed to lead Botswana into the next century, says the rising trend of violence against women "must be arrested and reversed". It calls for community-based education, the enactment and enforcement of laws, and the provision of support services.
Rape (though not marital rape) has now been fairly well documented, incest and sexual harassment have not, although both are believed to be prevalent. There have beeen a number of legal triumphs for Botswana women in recent years, not least of which was the 1992 Dow vs. State case that led to the amendment of the Citizenship Act of 1995. This gave women the same rights as men to pass on their Botswana citizenship to their children and thus established that the constitution does guarantee women equality before the law. However, the Botswana Constitution still does not specifically refer to sex in its definition of discrimination. 

Women still have very little knowledge about their legal rights under Botswana's dual legal system which covers Common Law (Roman Dutch Law, Acts of Parliament and decisions of the Superior Courts) and Customary Law (unwritten law which varies from tribe to tribe). The latter accords a husband a certain legal 'right' to 'chastise' his wife and this has contributed to a general dismissal of domestic violence as a family affair not requiring prosecution.

Government's position

The Botswana government has formed a Women's Affairs Department, signed international agreements, commissioned studies and developed policy guidelines and frameworks. However the impact of these studies, the limited outreach and budget of the Department, and the effect of the treaties signed is questionable.

In 1998 the government formulated a National Gender Programme Framework which notes that violence against women is on the increase, that very little is being done to prevent it and that treatment services urgently need to be developed. The Framework recommends that government provide funds to "foster the development of programs/projects related to women abuse". It concludes that despite the escalation of male violence there are no adequate programs to respond to the problems and needs of victims or perpetuators.

Rape

From 1986-1996 the annual number of reported rape cases almost doubled from 599 to 1101. However, many charges of rape are withdrawn and few end with the perpetrator in jail. In 1982 only 23 percent of reported rapes ended in a conviction. In 1997 this had fallen still further to 20 percent. At the same time, the percentage of cases that are closed has increased, with a worrying 70 percent in 1992. Botswana is now believed to have one of the lowest conviction rates in the region.

Police in South Africa have estimated that only one in 35 rapes is reported. If this figure were applied to Botswana then, taking the 633 rapes recorded by the police in the first half of 1999 as a guideline, a woman is raped every 12 minutes. Rape crisis counselors in Botswana believe that even fewer rapes are reported as many prefer to keep the crime a "family matter", so in fact this figure is likely to be much higher.

In the first half of 1999, police recorded 88 murder cases and 320 armed robbery cases. The most comprehensive survey on rape remains a 1994 study conducted by Emang Basadi which calls rape "one of the most wanting social problems of our times". It estimates that rape has been increasing at an annual average rate of five percent per annum since 1982.
Public concern about the high level of rape, and fears that neither the police nor the courts were taking the crime seriously, led to recent changes in the law. Amended rape laws came into force in April 1998, making rape gender neutral, expanding the definition of rape, introducing minimum sentencing for rape and defilement and HIV testing for those convicted, and denying accused rapists the option of bail. 5
The amended laws were seen as a major advance by women's groups, although problems have arisen in their interpretation and application. Trials of rape cases are now held in camera which affords the complainant some protection, s/he is still subject to offensive questioning from defence lawyers and magistrates. In the absence of a code of conduct for journalists, some newspaper reports still identify the survivor.

Prior to the amended laws, no convicted rapist had ever received the maximum penalty of life imprisonment. A 1984 study found the average range of sentences was 18 months to 10 years - with 66 percent of convicted rapists receiving two to four years. Almost 10 years later, another study found sentences still ranged from between just six months and nine years. 6

Sentencing has become tougher in recent years partly due to the new laws, but police and court procedures still leave a lot to be desired. In one recent case a seven year old girl was raped by a stranger, the accused was locked up for a few days and then released. No further action was taken.
It remains to be seen how long it will be until marital rape is recognized under the law. At one public meeting organized by the Women's Affairs Department in Maun recently one man asked: "How can I rape something I own?"

Battering

Battering - domestic or spousal violence - is believed to be the most frequent form of violence suffered by women in Botswana. In the recent Women's Affairs survey 37 percent of interviewees had suffered a severe beating 1-5 times in 1998 at the hands of their male partner.
Traditional culture is often cited as the cause and excuse for battering and some men feel they have the right to 'chastise' their wives if the latter break with 'tradition'. This can include questioning the man's movements or his relationship with other women, 'neglecting' housework, or talking back. Says Monica Tabengwa, director of Metlhaetsile Women's Information Centre: "Most women expect to be battered and most men consider it their duty to batter their spouses….Women have come to believe violence is a natural part of a relationship between men and women, an indication of passion."Says Batawana Paramount Chief Kgosi Tawana II: " When does chastisement turn to abuse? A little slap here, a little slap there to put the wife in line is seen as acceptable, she's your child. There is acceptance that this happens in a marriage."

This traditional 'right to chastise' was challenged in a 1985 high court murder case where the court president said the law "does not and will not recognize what is alleged to be accepted custom in Botswana, that a husband may physically assault his wife if she incurs his discipline". 7

Justifications for violence against women on grounds of culture also appear to be rejected by the majority. "I am a proud Motswana, but how can I call abuse culture?" asked one teacher during a recent workshop.

Domestic violence is still not regarded as a specific criminal offence which means there are few statistics on the issue because court and police records show only "assault". However, recent research carried out for the Women's Affairs Department shows that in two out of three cases of "assault" tried at customary courts women are the victims.

Nationwide customary court records from 1994-1998 show that the number of violence against women has been consistently high in comparison with the total number of violence cases. 8 Many cases of domestic violence do not make it to court or are withdrawn before sentencing.

About 65 percent of women still prefer to report domestic violence to in-laws and parents rather than to the courts, often with satisfactory results. 9 However many do not report the abuse to anyone. Says one survivor interviewed: "Women don't report because they are ashamed of reporting things, people will say that they will be exposing their secrets". Women are also put off by unsympathetic in-laws, especially mothers-in-laws. At a recent public meeting, participants said wife battering is a "bedroom issue" and not something to be talked about publicly.

Last year's first ever report on torture in Botswana produced by Ditshwanelo, the Botswana Centre for Human Rights, specifically included domestic violence as a form of torture. Earlier this year, battered women syndrome was introduced as a defence in a Botswana court of law for the first time.

Domestic violence is also an issue which the Botswana police are apparently keen to attach a new importance to. In 1997 a group of six NGOs petitioned the Commissioner of Police, Norman Moleboge, over the police's lax handling of numerous cases of domestic violence. Impressively, the Commissioner responded by immediately setting up a task force that reinvestigated 22 cases.

The petition, initiated by Metlhaetsile, led in turn to the drafting of a new domestic violence bill.
References and notes:
1. Figures taken from: The socio-economic implications of violence against women in Botswana, March 1999, a report commissioned by the Women's Affairs Department, and Rape in Botswana: statistics, profiles, laws and consequences, 1998, Emang Basadi Women's Association.

2. At the first national crime prevention conference held in Gaborone last year, Monica Tabengwa, the director of Metlhaetsile, pleaded that: "Government should stop considering NGOs as being anti government because they are not".

3. Newspapers do not have full time court reporters and this means cases are publicized in an ad hoc fashion. While violence against women has become more 'newsworthy' in recent years, rape reports are becoming more sensationalized with rapists commonly referred to as "sex pests" etc. With no code of conduct for journalists, this type of coverage will just get worse. At the same time, advertising in the print media is now beginning to use women's bodies to sell items such as vehicles for the first time.

4. The Report on a review of all laws affecting the status of women in Botswana, September 1998, Women's Affairs Department, recommends that the constitution is amended.

5. The amendments - in particular the HIV and no bail components - drew some criticism at the time from Ditshwanelo, the Botswana Centre for Human Rights. The 'no bail' clause was declared unconstitutional by Francistown High Court Judge Raymond Mwaikasu and, as a result, an undisclosed number of accused rapists were released from prison. RCC has always supported the no bail clause because of the likelihood that an (accused) rapist who is not held in custody will further threaten and intimidate the person he has raped or her/his family.

6. The prevalence and consequences of rape on women in Botswana: an agenda for research and action, Emang Basadi Women's Association, August 1994.

7. Quoted in The socio-economic implications of violence against women, referring to Alice Mogwe's 1988 MA research on battered women in Gaborone.

8. In Maun it is 60.2 percent, Francistown 64 percent and Gaborone 70.6 percent: The socio-economic implications of violence against women in Botswana.

9. The socio-economic implications of violence against women.

10. The bill was supposed to have been presented in parliament by MP Gladys Kokorwe on June 25 1999 but was postponed several times and then put on hold pending the general elections.

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