WINDHOEK – The Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL) in Khomas Region has called for the establishment of neighbourhood watch bodies in all ten districts in the region.
In a press release issued late last week, Khomas SPYL regional secretary Paulus Emmanuel called for more people to join the current structures of Women and Men Network and all other crime prevention organisations in their respective districts to help combat crime.
The SPYL’s call follows the brutal killing last week of Cheryl Avihe Ujaha, a 9-year-old girl whose dismembered body was discovered in a riverbed in Katutura last week.
Immanuel congratulated the communities that have functional neighbourhood watches and called on them to assist others in establishing similar bodies.
“We strongly call on all stakeholders to ensure erecting surveillance cameras at all crime [prone] areas within the city, in particular Katutura and Khomasdal,” said Emmanuel.
He said urged community members in the city to be vigilant as the festive season draws closer. The Khomas SPYL says it will start engaging law enforcement agencies to put amicable measures and plans in place.
“Let us incorporate more members in our neighbourhood watches and train more community volunteers such as in the concept of Women and Men Network … this way we have more people who are vigilant, report, as well as seek help on observations of suspicious violent behaviour timeously, which could lead to a decrease in the prevalence of crime and violent behaviour,” said Immanuel.
“The law enforcement agencies cannot curb crime alone but with our support as community members and residents. Let us not only condemn crime when gruesome acts such as this one happen but we should condemn crime every day. Let us be a society that has zero tolerance for crime no matter the level – with this attitude we leave no room for criminals in our neighbourhoods, society, city and country at large.”
“Women are killed by men who claim to love them. As a youth organ, we denounce the escalating incidents of gender-based violence, especially the gruesome crimes against the girl child in the region and country at large,” said Immanuel.
He said that the thermometer of morality in Namibia is descending to below zero almost on a daily basis, as wives and girlfriends are beaten by their husbands and boyfriends as if it is “the new fashion.”
“Today in our city we see many broken families and family structures that lack morality, where instilling morals in our children and youth is no longer the order of the day. Domestic violence, drug use, drug dealing, alcohol abuse or fraudulent behaviour are what the maturing child is now observing in our families and society and as it appears to be the norm,” he added.