THE senseless killing of multitudes of Namibian women speaks volumes on the general decay of moral and societal values.
Plainly put, the perpetrators of these callous, demonic acts seem to have been brought up not to respect the sanctity of precious life.
All Namibians are equal before the law and the taking of one’s life is strictly prohibited. But hardly a week passes without one woman becoming a part of this sinful statistic.
It should be pointed out from the outset that Namibia has adequate and progressive laws to mitigate acts of domestic violence and crimes of passion. It should also be noted this problem is not peculiar to Namibia but manifests itself in other African countries as well.
In a report published in 2012 in Botswana, over 67 percent of women in that country experienced some form of gender-based violence. In 2005 alone, over 70 women lost their lives in Botswana at the hands of their jealous lovers.
Egypt and other Muslim states are haunted by the shame of so-called “honour killings” or homicides of a member of a particular family on grounds the victim has brought shame to a particular family. This could be the result of the victim having merely dressed “inappropriately”.
In Malawi acts of gender-based violence are also well documented. In 2006, Marietta Samuel, 33, a mother of three children had her arms hacked off by her former husband in an attack that was fuelled by jealousy.
The root cause of these aberrant acts seems a bit complex, though experts generally agree the main cause is unequal power dynamics in love relationships.
Some men are under the wrong notion that they own their girlfriends and wives simply because they support them financially or are the sole breadwinners.
Some men also perceive women as minors who need to be disciplined. However, any form of violence against women is unacceptable and should be roundly condemned with the contempt it deserves.
Gender-based violence also manifests itself in different forms, some of them subtle, some of them brutal. In a way in as much as yesterday’s national prayers could be soothing, this complex issue should be categorised as a policy issue.
Since women in most cases are trapped in abusive relationships this issue could be addressed if we deliberately draft programmes exclusively for the girl-child. This will in a way reduce existing social inequalities that result in some women being reduced to sex slaves in loveless relations that end up in tragedy.
In as much as we need divine intervention, we should as a nation seriously design programmes that will empower women. Because it has been proven elsewhere that when women are empowered it is highly unlikely they will allow themselves to be trapped in loveless slave-like relations.
Real men do not kill their beloved women and we have seen enough of this social evil.