Rundu
The Namibian Police in Kavango East launched three campaigns aimed at enhancing the relationship between the police and the community in combating crime in the region. The campaigns are the House to House; Women and Men Network; and Turn Back Crime.
The launch of the campaigns brought together regional and deputy regional commanders from Botswana, Zambia and Angola, as well as senior police officers from Namibia’s other regions. The Women and Men Network will offer voluntary assistance to the police like neighbourhood watch, while the House to House is a platform of community policing and Turn Back Crime is a global platform for crime prevention, which is said to be active in all countries that are part of Interpol.
“With the launch of the campaigns they are sending a message that those who will be criminals should never dare to do it in Kavango. They should repent, they should go to church because the police and the community of this region are ready to wipe them off the face of this region,” said Leiteunant-General Sebastian Ndeitunga, the Inspector General of the Namibian Police and the Interpol Vice-President for Africa.
Speaking at the occasion the Deputy Minister of Safety and Security, Daniel Kashikola, urged police officers to be passionate about their job if they are to be effective in executing their duties and goals. He said that they should be present at work, not just physically but also in their minds.
“I’m saying this because there are those people that are always present in the office, and at the parade like this, but they are absent-minded and thus unable to deliver,” Kashikola said.
“We all have a collective responsibility of making Namibia a crime-free nation and therefore this occasion is of particular significance towards realising what we have set ourselves, as criminals live amongst us as they don’t live on islands and they are not alliens,” he said.
Ndeitunga asked that other regions emulate the wonderful example of Kavango East. “I want them to copy the patriotic songs that were just sung by the Johanna Ndahafa Ngondo Choir – these are the songs making the people of this region to fight crime. In their songs they have sent a message that Kavango is not a hideout for criminals and it will never be a hideout for criminals,” Ndeitunga added.