KABO RAMASIA
Gaborone Mayor, Austin Abraham has decried the escalation of crime in the city of Gaborone, which threatens the prevailing peace and tranquillity in the country.
Speaking at the University of Botswana campus indoor centre during an event organised by the Department of Criminal Justice recently, Abraham said the city is grappling with crimes such as money heists, corruption and economic crimes, rape and many others.
He said there is an urgent need for adequate human resources to effectively respond to complex crimes, which threaten the ambitions of economic growth. “A crime free environment is a pre-requisite for peace. Peaceful and politically stable country is attractive for investment,” he said.
Meanwhile, Abraham credited Botswana Police Service (BPS) for their dedication to fighting crime, emphasising that a crime free society is a dream to be fought for.
For his part, the University of Botswana Vice-Chancellor, Professor David Norris hailed the criminal justice department for hosting a stakeholders engagement that zoomed into the death mystery and how such can be resolved. Norris said through such initiatives, UB was trying to bridge the gap with industry, civil society, and government. He further posited that students learn better when the learning is conducive to promote hands-on learning. He said, critical thinking is therefore essential to today’s learning and commended the department for gathering stakeholders in unpacking crime.
A lecturer at the Criminal Justice department, Emmanual Maravanyika sought to unpack the difference between criminology and criminal justice studies. He said criminology is a scientific approach to the study of criminal behaviours which entail society’s reaction to law violation and law breakers, nature of crimes criminals, where they are from and many more. Maravanyika highlighted that criminology is the child of sociology. Contrary, he defined criminal justice as a system which detects crimes and punishes criminals. He said the latter is focused on crime control.
However, as a point of departure, the scholar noted that the two cannot be separated. “Criminology is a growing discipline in Southern Africa,” he said.