Steven Klukowski
KEETMANSHOOP – Nami#nus Constituency Councillor Jan Scholtz has dismissed the popular belief that domestic violence is confined mostly to poor families, describing this as a myth.
“It takes place in all kinds of homes, poor or rich,” the regional councillor argued.
He is of the opinion that mostly women fall prey to all kinds of violence, including educated women occupying high positions in society.
“Government is however highly committed to address the issue of high levels of domestic violence – the Domestic Violence Act (Act No. 4 of 2003) as well as the National Planning Commission’s Action Plans on domestic violence (2019-2023) serve as an instrument to attest to it,” he said.
He was speaking at a three-day workshop on domestic violence in Lüderitz attended by various community stakeholders.
In his opening remarks Scholtz highlighted the importance of the workshop as that of brainstorming and coming up with workable solutions to the social evil.
“We are faced with a most daunting problem which requires that we use the most innovative ideas that we can at the end of this workshop,” he said.
He reasoned that mostly women and children fall prey to domestic violence at the hands of abusive men. “As a community, we should take care of each other by being alert to curb the violence tendency prevailing in society,” he said.
Scholtz cautioned that alcohol abuse should not be disregarded as a contributing since men tend to become violent when under the influence of alcohol.
Scholtz said that such a workshop provides the ideal platform to identify one’s individual roles and responsibilities as well as create a forum to exchange ideas and share different views in the fight against domestic violence.
“We are all part of this information and experience exchange network and the future of our country lies within how well this can touch others to modify their lifestyles and behaviours,” he said.
The regional councillor further condemned the notion that women approve being subjected to domestic violence.