Have you seen the crime bulletin for your region? It’s pretty scary and telling.
If you have seen it, it will leave you with more questions than you are willing to answer, you would think those reports are exaggerated.
Just by scanning through the reports it becomes clear that there is a link between youth unemployment, poverty, and crime. Towns in regions that have high unemployment rates, especially among the youth tend to have higher crime rates. Even more telling within those towns, poverty-stricken areas tend to fall victim to more serious crimes like murder and as it has been reported by the media, Gender-Based Violence against children and women. That’s the reality of Namibia.
The frequency of some of the crimes taking place in towns like Outjo are unbelievable! You’d think murder is a sport and stabbing and assaulting your partner is a requirement for a relationship there. Every week in our local media you are most likely to hear or read about a serious crime committed in the town, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the town also has a high number of unemployed youth, coincidence?
It is well known that !Karas, Kavango East, and West and Zambezi regions are some of the regions badly affected by poverty, especially among the youth, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that the government is having a hard time dealing with crimes such as poaching, drug abuse, and trafficking among others. Most of the people committing these crimes are the youth, those that were supposed to be productive and lead the nation tomorrow.
But of course the custodians of the nation are aware of the predicament on the ground and considering the circumstances and what they have to work, they are doing their level best to combat the situation or so they would like us to think. Good could always be better in this case and it should be.
The youth on the other hand and just the general public, especially those that have thoughts or are thinking about going above the law just to solve their problems, please don’t do it. Refrain from it. Times are tough and testing, but they won’t last forever, as the saying goes “tough times don’t last, but tough people do”.
I urge you to put your energy into good and productive actions to create employment, eradicate poverty and help with combating crimes in your area.
*Olavi Popyeinawa has a diploma in Alternative Dispute Resolution and is currently studying law, LLB at the University of Namibia. He writes on youth matters. Find him on Instagram: niceguy_olavi, Facebook: Olavi Longfellow and Twitter: @ OlaviPoyeinawa