The prosecutions chief says women who sexually abuse boys will also face the law, challenging perceptions that child sexual abuse is committed only by men.
SESUPO RANTSIMAKO
The Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP), Kgosietsile Ngakayagae, has warned female sex offenders that they will not be spared in the government’s efforts to clamp down on child sexual abuse.
Women Warned
In a message posted on his official social media page following the sentencing of Pastor Kgosi Mojadigo to 40 years’ imprisonment for defilement and rape, Ngakayagae cautioned men against engaging in sexual activity with minors, stressing that children cannot legally consent to sexual relations with adults.
He said government had tightened its grip on sex offenders, warning that the crackdown was not limited to male perpetrators but extended to women involved in the sexual abuse of children.
Boys At Risk
Ngakayagae said the warning to female offenders was necessary because it had become clear that women were also participating in the sexual exploitation and abuse of young boys.
His remarks bring renewed attention to the vulnerability of boys, whose experiences of sexual abuse can sometimes receive less public attention because of prevailing perceptions that men are predominantly perpetrators and boys are rarely victims.
Police Figures
Although male perpetrators account for the overwhelming majority of identified defilement offenders in Botswana, police statistics show that women have also been implicated.
According to the Botswana Police Service’s 2022 Annual Statistics Report, 1,619 defilement perpetrators were identified during the reporting period. Of these, 1,618 were male and one was female, representing 99.9 percent and 0.1 percent respectively.
Case Backlog
The report further showed that 95.3 percent of the identified perpetrators were aged between 16 and 40, with the 21-to-25 age group accounting for the largest proportion at 536 offenders.
The scale of the challenge is also reflected in figures released by the DPP in April 2026, when officials revealed that 845 defilement cases had been concluded over the preceding five years, while another 1,094 remained ongoing.
Case Backlog
The figures highlight the considerable workload facing prosecutors in dealing with sexual offences against children. However, the DPP did not provide a gender breakdown of accused persons or clarify how many of the concluded cases resulted in convictions.
Botswana’s Penal Code criminalizes defilement under Section 147, with the law applying regardless of whether the accused is male or female. Women are therefore equally liable to prosecution when implicated in the sexual abuse of minors.
The challenge for law enforcement is to ensure that all cases are reported, investigated and prosecuted without gender-based assumptions about who can be an offender or a victim.