The Botswana Teachers Union (BTU) has noted a video circulating on social media concerning the utterances made by the Minister of Child Welfare and Basic Education, Hon Nono Kgafela Mokoka, at a Kgotla meeting in Digawana on Friday, 11 April 2025.
In the video, which we studied thoroughly to get into the context, Hon Kgafela Mokoka said a student in Selibe-Phikwe was beaten by five teachers, resulting in the student being hospitalised.
These are words we picked from the video in which Hon Kgafela Mokoka said: “…ba bangwe ba letse ba ketekwa ko Phikwe, ngwana a dikilwe ke mathichara a le matlhano, ngwana a bo a ya go robadiwa ko sepatela…”
Upon learning of these serious allegations, the Union leadership immediately tasked the Botswana Teachers Union (BTU) Selibe-Phikwe Regional Committee to conduct a comprehensive investigation across all schools in Selibe-Phikwe.
The outcome of the investigations carried out by the Botswana Teachers Union (BTU) Selibe-Phikwe Regional Committee, with assistance from the Sub-Region Office, which oversees educational matters in the area, confirmed no such incident occurred within Selibe- Phikwe, as alluded by Hon Kgafela Mokoka.
Also, no verified cases of teacher-inflicted corporal punishment resulted in hospitalisation in the Botswana Teachers Union (BTU) Selibe-Phikwe Region.
Therefore, such unverified reports risk damaging the reputation of the educators and undermining the academic achievements the Selibe-Phikwe Region is proud of.
We, therefore, challenge the Minister of Child Welfare and Basic Education, as a proponent of child welfare, to tell the nation the truth about what she said about the teachers in the Selibe-Phikwe Region.
We also request the Minister to publicly apologise to Selebi Phikwe teachers for the unsubstantiated claims and correct the record through official communication channels.
We advise our Comrades in the Region to remain committed to maintaining discipline through lawful and non-violent means as outlined in Botswana’s Education Act.
We want to put it on record that we have been advising our members not to administer corporal punishment long before Hon Kgafela Mokoka issued a statement on the same.
