Windhoek
With the number of heinous crimes committed of late, the country that was once considered a 90 percent Christian nation has seemingly turned into a 90 percent violent nation made up of sick people, Swapo backbencher Bernadette Jagger said this week.
The National Assembly was engulfed in emotion on Wednesday when lawmakers discussed the murders taking place across the country, after Minister of Gender Equality and Child Welfare Doreen Sioka delivered her ministerial statement. Her statement was prompted by the killing of two sisters, Jacqueline and Cecilia Kuasera, in a Khomasdal riverbed on Friday. Around the same time, the body of a dead man was found behind a filling station in Katutura, while the body of a woman, suspected to have been his lover, was discovered a few metres away.
The country has witnessed a number of horrific events in recent years, with rape, suicide and murder topping the list. It emerged this week that between January and June this year, 214 suicides were reported, while 448 were reported in 2014.
In July, the Namibian police announced that it opened cases of rape every week since January, with between one and five rapes reported to the police every week.
Some MPs argued that removing shebeens from residential areas is one solution, but they may face resistance in parliament, as some lawmakers are in fact shebeen owners. New Era reported last week how a handful of MPs in the National Council, for example, own shebeens, despite widespread recognition of the fact that alcohol is destroying the nation. It is estimated that out of 5 000 shebeens and bars operating in Windhoek, around 1 500 are not licensed.
Despite MPs conceding that all measures taken to curb gender-based violence have failed, lawmakers are putting their heads together to find a lasting solution to the spate of barbaric killings that has plagued the country in recent years. Jagger admitted that strategies enacted to end the killing sprees have failed and consequently women continue to fall victim to gender-based violence.
“It is clear that we moved from being a 90 percent Christian nation to a 90 percent violent nation. This nation is sick. We are all sick as we are sitting here. Everybody in this country is sick. For as long as we don’t have a plan in place to fight gender-based violence, I stand and claim that we are sick. We all need counselling,” she charged.
She also accused parents of contributing to the problem, because some sit back knowing that their children are engaged in sexual relationships with teachers. “If I know my daughter is dating a teacher and I’m quiet, because I get some money, it makes me sick as well. Some parents do not worry as to what happens to their daughters. I know of children who dated teachers and principals, but if I try and intervene, everyone is quiet and unwilling to reveal information,” she said.
Jagger also reiterated earlier calls to ban cellphones from schools.
Minister Sioka labeled those committing such heinous crimes as bloodthirsty vampires. “People committing these crimes continue to move freely in our communities, because no one wants to come forth with information that will help the police to arrest such thugs and prosecute them,” she charged.
Safety and Security Minister Charles Namoloh said the police do not know what to do anymore, because suspects are always given bail, despite the nature of the crimes committed. He appealed to the judiciary to devise laws that will ensure that murder suspects are kept behind bars.
“Most criminals are repeat offenders. We just do not know what to do anymore as the police, because we arrest suspects but next thing you see they’re out on bail. We’re asking this house to look into the issue of how bail is granted, because the same people continue to commit crimes over and over,” a visibly concerned Namoloh said.
Swapo backbencher Ida Hoffmann was not impressed by the manner in which the police attend to GBV cases reported, saying: “The police always have excuses. Sometimes they even refuse to attend to reports, claiming that it’s a domestic issue. It seems there must first be blood before the police attend to reports.”
Health Minister Dr Bernard Haufiku proposed a national assessment on the psychological state of Namibians. “We invest too much emotion into an incident, but we do not address the root cause. There is a need for a national assessment to determine the levels of frustrations and stress in our society,” he said.
Haufiku emphasised the need to strengthen social welfare and psychological services and indicated the need for counselling services across the country. “Before doing that we need a diagnosis to see the type of counselling people need,” he said.
Haufiku also proposed that alcohol outlets be removed from residential areas: “By doing this we will not be losing much in terms of tax income. I say this in the sense that if you compare the damage caused by alcohol abuse and the benefits derived from alcohol through taxes you will conclude that we will not be losing much, compared to the lives lost.”
Attorney General Sacky Shanghala had an issue with parents who outsource their parental responsibilities to the State. “Parents cannot make out whether something is bothering their children, because they hardly spend time with them,” he said. Shanghala also spoke against the mushrooming of alcohol outlets in the poorest suburbs of the country and expressed concern over the ratio of shebeens to people.
He said calls to reinstate the death penalty would not be the solution, adding that: “Botswana has a death penalty, but their murder rate is far higher than ours… We need to understand why we are such an angry nation. Is it because we do not have better living standards, or have we reached a level where life is not important anymore?” Shanghala asked.