WINDHOEK – Over 1 200 men and 240 women have been murdered in the last five years in gender-based violence cases recorded with the police. On average 204 men and 48 women were murdered each year as victims of gender-based violence (GBV).
Most alarmingly, the actual number of murders in the period under review comes to 1 565 when juveniles are included in GBV cases.
But the figure excludes the people who lost their lives through other murderous acts that are not linked to GBV.
The GBV cases of grievous bodily harm are frightening in that an average of 10 067 people – 3 489 women and 6 577 men – were recorded as victims for each year between 2009 and 2013. Rape too is prevalent with no significant reduction in the annual cases of rape, with an average 631 women and 73 men raped every year in the last five years.
These are the latest statistics from the Namibian Police on GBV, with the police citing “gender inequality [as] the root cause of gender-based violence,” among the challenges associated with GBV.
The statistics, availed to New Era by the police, paint a picture of a nation besieged by senseless killings with an apparent lack of the appreciation for life.
The fortunate one are the victims who did not lose their lives, through other gender-based violence of indecent assault, grievous bodily harm, and attempted rape in the last five years.
Police say the other challenge in fighting GBV is the fact that such “crimes are committed in the private sphere, which is in the home and within the family” .
Deputy Commissioner Edwin Kanguatjivi, head of the police’s public relations division, said the higher number of men victims, especially in murder and grievous bodily harm is because of crimes committed between males, as well as because men are more at risk of being in dangerous situations such as walking on foot late at night, abusing alcohol and getting into physical fights.
Kanguatjivi said that it was also time that society started looking into the true picture of murder rates as statistics show a staggering decline in the male population, which causes gender imbalance.
The figures do not include cases involving juveniles, which bloat the figures further. The juvenile cases do not reveal gender but they form part of the total cases reported.
The police make some recommendations, saying “both men and women need to stand up against those men who disrespect women in our communities,” and the communities and police need to “change their focus which is mostly aimed at offenders but rather concentrate on the triangle of the crimes.”
Police also want “all gender-based violence cases to be treated as state cases to avoid any possible premature withdrawals by some complainants; and parents to assume responsibility rather than shifting the blame at a late stage,” and for “government to consider a moratorium on the issuance of firearm licences particularly handguns and assault rifles.”
There have been fluctuations in the different cases reported but murder cases reached a peak in 2009 with 353 cases reported while 2011 was the year with the least murders at 262 cases.
In 2013, a total of 298 murder cases was reported. In the five-year period, the highest number of grievous bodily harm cases, at 10 620, was reported in the year 2011, while the lowest number stood at 9 725 cases in 2010.
Last year, 10 553 cases were reported pertaining to grievous bodily harm.
In the year 2011, the highest number of 159 indecent assaults was recorded, while the lowest number of 97 cases was reported in 2010.
By Magreth Nunuhe