Corpun file 22275

Sunday Standard, Gaborone, 20 May 2010

Males decry corporal punishment

By John Regonamanye

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Old Naledi court president, Kgosi Charles Molefe Keoitsile, on Monday fined Sereko Sebudula and Lorato Segwati, both employees of Jet Stores, P100 for stealing clothes from their employer.

Their male counterparts Patrick Madongo, Tshenolo Setshogo, Thato Keaketswe and Tumisang Mogopole, were lashed for similar offenses.

Two of the young men, Mogopole and Keaketswe, complained about what they called Botswana's skewed justice system, saying their female counterparts should also have been lashed.

"Corporal punishment should be revisited to incorporate women. If corporal punishment is intended to rehabilitate us, why not extend the same to the womenfolk," they said.

Recently, Kgosi Tswebebe of Mahalapye decried the adverse effects of corporal punishment at a kgotla meeting, saying it should be reviewed.

"It is inconsistent to mete out differing punishments for similar offenses just because of sex," he said.