Technology that targets thieves, killers
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An online database company, Adams Database is piling up pressure on the Botswana Police Service, Pawn shops, retail outlets and other stakeholders to enter into loose compact agreements that would see technology being efficiently employed to help reduce crimes of all kinds.
Despite writing a proposal to the Botswana Police Service two years ago expressing interest in working with the law enforcement entity at no cost to fight crime, Adams Database is yet to receive a response.
“But this has not stopped us from forging ahead with our intention. Although this is a business, we believe this will cover as a big relief to the wider public because crime is giving many of our people sleepless nights,” said Victor Setlhare, a founder and senior partner at Adams Database.
Setlhare said the Crime and Investigations Department (CID) of the Botswana Police has expressed interest in working with them to recover stolen goods.
“This is not just about recovering stolen goods such as cellphones, television screens, fridges and others, our application has the ability to solve other crimes that may be occasioned in the process of stealing these goods,” observed Setlhare.
On the other hand, the police are pretty busy and may not have time or resources readily available to investigate theft cases immediately hence an online database could complement police work, he stressed.
Other crimes that the Adams Database proprietor is confident they will help solve include murder, common theft, assaults, fraud, cross border theft, and obtaining by false pretence among others.
He said they already have agreements with some furniture shops and pawn shops that have lost millions of Pula as a result of goods being stolen and not being recovered by the police. He said their technology will also help the Botswana Police to be in a position to locate owners of goods as soon as they are recovered.
Setlhare said key to their technology is that before goods go missing or are stolen, they are captured into the database by recording their model, serial numbers, and where they were bought.
“The key to recovering lost or stolen electronics is to know their pertinent digits and in this case, their model and serial numbers. If you file a police report for stolen equipment, the form will ask for this information, and having the serial number makes it much easier to reclaim your property,” observed Setlhare.
He said most of the stolen goods are usually sold to pawn shops and having them on board is critical.
“We want them to register all the goods they buy from people into our database so that if whatever they buy could be potentially stolen property the system reports immediately,” he added.
Setlhare said their mission is to reduce the trade of stolen property in Botswana and to provide the community with increased visibility of stolen property and pets nationwide, to assist individuals, businesses and police in the recovery of stolen goods and to aid the prevention of the trade of stolen property while achieving the bigger picture of reducing crime.
The Adams Database team encouraged individuals and companies to open accounts with them where they will register their goods. They explained that a Household Account can be opened at P50 and one will be able to register all their electronics, and other goods. They say it is important to bring receipts along if they are still available. The model or make will determine the price one has to pay to register individual goods, but it rangers from P30 to P120, explained Setlhare.
“The reason why we want pawn shops, furniture shops and other retailers to enter into a working relationship with Adams Database is for us to become an open-source alternative for tracking stolen laptops, phones, televisions, fridges, radios and tablets among other goods,” said a partner at Adams Database, Shima Petrus Keakopa. He emphasised that database of stolen items will help to prevent their resale and help police find the goods and their rightful owners.
As an advice to property owners, Keakopa said, “If you have a homeowners or renters insurance policy, you should probably photograph your valuable personal property. When snapping shots of your electronics equipment, you're better off capturing the bottom or back of the device wherever the model and serial numbers are located because the information may come in handy when goods are stolen,” he said.
Keakopa indicated that they intend to approach the Botswana Unified Revenue Services (BURS) to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding so that they can help reduce cross border crime. He said they are busy developing a system that could assist their customers beyond borders. Keakopa observed that equipment is stolen in Botswana is taken to other neighbouring countries. He said the application will require that people bringing gadgets from outside Botswana quickly enter them into the database at the border.
He further pointed out that other crimes are committed during the process of stealing or robbery. He gave examples of murder and assault, further stressing that stolen goods if recovered can help reveal perpetrators of crimes.
“You know police investigations are sophisticated, with the help of technology it can be easy to identify a needle in a haystack,” he said.
Keakopa also observed that the Insurance industry and furniture shops could save millions of Pula which they spend as pay-outs to cover for stolen goods. He said fraud cases where people make false claims of theft could be arrested if their technology is given support.
He said Adams Database, a leading asset data management system company providing peace of mind to businesses and home owners with monitored asset management systems and support, is mentored and housed by the Botswana Innovation Hub (BIH). Setlhare and Keakopa are confident that with the support of BIH and the Botswana Police Service, their technology approach can help reduce crime significantly.
“I read somewhere that since the introduction of bolus insertion in cattle, theft of livestock has gone down almost 60 percent,” said Setlhare.
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Local tennis team upbeat ahead of Billie Jean King cup
With almost two weeks until the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup, which will be staged in Kenya from June 12-17, 2023, the Botswana Tennis Association (BTA) ladies’ team coach, Ernest Seleke, is optimistic about reaching greater heights.
Billie Jean King Cup, or the BJK Cup, is a premier international team competition in women’s tennis, launched as the Federation Cup to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the International Tennis Federation (ITF). The BJK Cup is the world’s largest annual women’s international team sports competition in terms of the number of nations that compete.
The finals will feature 12 teams (Botswana, Burundi, Ghana, Kenya, Seychelles, Morocco, Namibia, Nigeria, Tunisia, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, and the Democratic Republic of Congo) competing in the four round-robin groups of three. The four group winners will qualify for the semifinals, and the 2023 Billie Jean King Cup will be crowned after the completion of the knockout phase.
Closer to home, the BW Tennis team is comprised of Thato Madikwe, Leungo Monnayoo, Chelsea Chakanyuka, and Kelebogile Monnayoo. However, according to Seleke, they have not assembled the team yet as some of the players are still engaged.
“At the moment, we are depending on the players and their respective coaches in terms of training. However, I will meet up with Botswana-based players in the coming week, while the United States of America (USA) based player Madikwe will probably meet us in Kenya. Furthermore, Ekua Youri and Naledi Raguin, who are based in Spain and France respectively, will not be joining us as they will be writing their examinations,” said Seleke.
Seleke further highlighted the significance of this competition and how competitive it is. “It is a massive platform for our players to showcase their talent in tennis, and it is very competitive as countries target to get promoted to the world categories where they get to face big nations such as Spain, France, USA, and Italy. Though we are going to this tournament as underdogs because it is our second time participating, I’m confident that the girls will put in a good showing and emerge with results despite the odds,” highlighted Seleke.
Quizzed about their debut performance at the BJK Cup, he said, “I think our performance was fair considering the fact that we were newbies. We came third in our group after losing to North Macedonia and South Africa. We went on to beat Uganda, then Kenya in the playoffs. Unfortunately, we couldn’t play Burundi due to heavy rainfall and settled for the position 9/10,” he said.
For her part, team representative Leungo Monnayoo said they are working hard as they aim to do well at the tourney. “The preparations for the tourney have long begun because we practice each and every day. We want to do well, hence we need to be motivated. Furthermore, I believe in my team as we have set ourselves a big target of coming home with the trophy,” she said.
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Pep Stores donates sanitary towels to Popagano JSS
The Guidance and Counseling unit at Popagano Junior Secondary School received a donation of 790 sanitary towels from Pep stores on Thursday.
When presenting the donation, Mareledi Thebeng, the Dinokaneng Area Manager, highlighted their belief in giving back to the community, as their existence depends on the communities they serve. Thebeng pointed out that research indicates one in four girls miss school every day due to the lack of basic necessities like sanitary towels. Therefore, as a company, they strive to assist in alleviating this situation. She expressed hope that this donation would help ensure uninterrupted learning for girls.
Upon receiving the donation on behalf of the students, Charity Sambire, the President of the Student Representative Council, expressed her gratitude. Sambire specifically thanked Pep Store for their generous gift, speaking on behalf of the students, especially the girl child.
She conveyed their sincere appreciation for Pep Store’s compassion and quoted the adage, “Blessed is the hand that gives.” Sambire expressed the students’ hope for Pep Stores’ prosperity, enabling them to continue supporting the students. As a gesture of gratitude, the students pledged to excel academically.
During her speech, Motlalepula Madome, the Senior Teacher in Guidance and Counseling, highlighted that many students at the school come from disadvantaged backgrounds where parents struggle to provide basic necessities. Consequently, some students miss school when they experience menstruation due to this lack.
Madome emphasized the significance of the donation in preventing the girl child from missing lessons and its potential to improve the school’s overall results. She expressed the school’s gratitude and expressed a desire for continued support from Pep Stores.
Popagano Junior Secondary School, situated in the Okavango District, holds the second position academically in the North West region. Despite its location, the school has been dedicated to achieving excellence since 2017
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Botswana misses out critical PAP committee meeting
The Pan African Parliament (PAP) committee on gender, family, youth and people with disability in its sitting considered, adopted and recommended to the plenary session the preliminary report on the framework for the model law on gender equality.
According to the last week’s media release from PAP which is sitting with its various committees until June 2nd, the committee is following up the PAP initiative to draw up a model law on gender equality to enable national governments to harmonize, modernize and standardize their legislations to address local needs is set to be discussed in Plenary.
However, what is concerning is the fact that Botswana which is a member state missed the deliberations. Kgosi Mosadi Seboko who sat in the committee representing Botswana has since been ejected by parliament and this is a huge blow for a nation that is still battling equity and gender balance.
“Although PAP has no legislative powers it makes model laws for member states to adopt. PAP also develops protocols to be ratified by countries. The input of countries at Committee state is extremely critical. It now means the voice of Botswana is missing the discussions leading up to development of protocols or model laws,” said one of Botswana’s representative at PAP Dr. Kesitegile Gobotswang who is attending the current session.
While Botswana is missing, the committee meeting took place on the sidelines of the Sixth PAP second ordinary Session being held under the African Union Theme of the Year for 2023, “The Year of AfCFTA: Accelerating the Implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area” in Midrand, South Africa and will run up to 2 June 2023. Chairperson of the Committee, Hon Mariam Dao-Gabala expressed satisfaction with preliminary processes undertaken so far towards the formulation of the Model Law,” a release from the PAP website reads.
“The law should be suitable to all countries whatever the predominant culture or religion is. The aim is to give an opportunity to women to participate in the economic, political and social development of the continent. Women are not well positioned and face a lot of obstacles. We are introducing the idea of equity in the Law because we cannot talk about equality without equity,” said Hon Mariam Dao-Gabala in the press statement.
The release has stated that among issues to be covered by the Model Law is the migratory movements of women. The Committee proffered that this has to be addressed at the continental level to ensure that migrant women enjoy all their rights and live with dignity in their destination country. The members of the Gender Committee undertook consultations to consolidate the contributions of the various stakeholders that will be the logical framework format for the Model Law.