The old sayings, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere,” and “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”, echoed loudly as we pen this week’s editorial.
However, we will not get tired, relent or equivocate in bringing to your attention how evil a society we have become.
Day in, day out, we read screamingly sick headlines about how crime is tearing the nation apart and burning the core of our moral fabric, if at all there is any left in us.
The recent killings of girls reported in Okahandja are among the most atrocious and heartbreaking cases the nation has witnessed. The media clamours about the kidnappings, which continue to haunt the nation.
The heinous must be condemned by all and sundry.
Authorities must be supported in bringing perpetrators to book, while proactive efforts ought to have been in place to protect the most vulnerable in society.
Not so long ago, a New Era article revealed how drug abuse, a cycle of sheer poverty and a moment of madness surfaced as harbingers of the killings of six family members in cold blood, suspectedly at the hands of their own.
It is a heinous crime which has left an entire community in shock and mourning.
The horrific incident unfolded in the dusty, slow-paced township of Hakhaseb in Usakos, where 86-year-old pensioner Elisabeth Naruses was allegedly brutally butchered by her 17-year-old grandson. The teenager’s reported violent rampage did not stop there.
In the same blood-chilling act, he allegedly mercilessly took the lives of five more family members – his twin sister Fenny Naruses (17), young Ibra Naruses (6), and toddlers Raunisha Boer (6), Rachel Boer (3) and Emi Naruses (3). Each of these souls met a horrific and violent end on that fateful Saturday night. Last year, a 15-year-old girl fell pregnant after allegedly being raped by a pastor on two separate occasions. The man of the cloth presides over a Pentecostal church in northern Namibia. The slogan, ‘the future is female’, is true, but the present is female too. However, we should agree that society’s ills persistently hamper our progress towards gender equity.
Men are snatching the lives of little girls who would grow up to be impactful women.
Last year, in the Omusati region, a pastor of a Pentecostal church was arrested after allegedly raping three learners at his home in the Onkandi village in the Etayi constituency.
Still in the Omusati region, an Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia (Elcin) pastor was arrested for allegedly raping an 18-year-old girl on different occasions. These alleged perpetrators are pastors, people from whom society least expects these crimes. Let that sink in.
In the Bible, Apostle Paul charged Timothy to “preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, and exhort with all long-suffering and teaching, doing the work of an evangelist.
Disappointingly, some here in Namibia are just sexual predators dressed in robes, or, like the Bible says, a wolf in sheep’s clothing, which is an idiom from Jesus’s sermon on the Mount. It warns us against individuals who play a duplicitous role.
Statistics have revealed that from 2019 to July 2022, around 4 000 Namibian women fell victim to rape.
While authorities are doing their utmost to stop these hideous acts of violence by increasing penalties for people found guilty of such behaviour, it seems criminals just put a deaf ear to it.
Additionally, a report last year revealed that about 928 children were sexually abused. The figure could be much higher, considering most of these cases go largely unreported.
Coupled with this, a further 1,173 cases of child neglect were reported in the past year. Not only are children, who are already not safe in the care of their own parents, sexually abused, but they are also physically abused. It was reported that 526 cases of physical abuse were reported during the same period.
Several measures have been taken to address crime in this country. But the situation is worsening by the day, if reports, both in the media and by the police, are anything to go by. In 2022, the government proposed changes to the Combating of Rape Act to increase the minimum sentencing of perpetrators for up to 20 years in prison from the current 10 years to 15 years. At the time, between January and August 2021, Namibia had recorded close to 700 rape cases, “with a disproportionate impact on women and girls”.
Putting statistics to the face of crime in the country, between 2021 and 2022, a total of 98 640 criminal cases were reported countrywide, showing an increase of 7%, compared to the previous year. Amid these atrocities of GBV, the heroes flew in with invisible capes and offered aid and comfort to families.
We have made Namibia the safest place in the world, but not for our own.
Ensuring the safety and security of our own requires the government, police, private entities and foreign allies to combine deliberate efforts to combat the rising trend of GBV and femicide.
The country faces a decline in male participation in various facets of society, particularly in education. It is important to educate, inform, raise awareness and address these matters.
For years, we have done just that; however, it is the responsibility of every individual to carry the pride of our nation and fight for unity, equality and justice.
With the nation seemingly engulfed by an inferno of crime, key institutions responsible for safety and security, health, gender-related issues and public well-being must be taken to task.
More needs to be done. Let’s all get our hands on deck to combat crime. It begins with you.