By Wezi Tjaronda WINDHOEK Seventeen years after independence – the clergy feel – evils that have eroded the social fabric of Namibia should have been things of the past. Moral decay, marriage breakdowns, poverty and disease have increased since independence, and the Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN) feels something must be done to address the situation. The Church has gone to the extent of formulating strategies to address the situation, which if left unattended will break down the people’s moral fibre completely. At a meeting held early this month the Church agreed to focus on uniting, to have a common understanding that the Church is there to heal and care for the people, to express itself on national issues such as HIV/AIDS and also to partner with the State to ensure a better future. The present situation is characterised by instances where the gap between the rich and poor has not narrowed, gender-based violence and marriage breakdowns are on the increase, while people have thrown their morals to the dogs, they say. Although independence brought with it improved access to education and health with the construction of more schools, health facilities and road infrastructure especially in rural areas, better living standards and other development, spiritually and morally things have not been the same. Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN) President and Head of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Namibia Eastern Diocese, Johannes Sindano, spoke to New Era about the 17 years that Namibia has been independent. Morality has decayed to the point where it even had to be tabled in the National Assembly. Sindano cited alcohol abuse, marriage breakdowns and violence against women and children as direct results of moral decay. “Alcohol abuse was not so much there in the past, now we have many street children, over 1 000 prostitutes and women and children that are being beaten up and raped,” he added. The church pews that used to be filled to capacity are also a thing of the past, he said. While people could have been attending church because of fear, Sindano said men especially were not attending to their spiritual needs. Divorces are also on the increase to the extent that the CCN in 2006 said what was happening reflected the confusion in many families. Statistics from the High Court indicate that hundreds of marriages end in divorce. In 2002 alone, out of 2 967 marriages that took place, 539 divorced, representing 17.9 percent. In 2005, out of 1 403 marriages, 256 ended in divorce. These statistics exclude the number of divorces that are filed but are not yet finalised, marriages that have separated and do not have money to afford the divorce courts and also deserted marriages. Although critics have attributed all these to globalisation, which has led people to adopt cultures of others, especially the west, according to Sindano, “This is a result of spiritual dryness.” One of the contributing factors to this has been a lack of resources for churches to employ as many shepherds as are needed to lead the flock. Before independence, many organisations pumped money into the county, including into churches to help them with their work but came independence, the financial assistance ended, thereby resulting in a shortage of pastors. For instance, ELCIN has 20 congregations without pastors, among them Grootfontein, Gobabis, Otavi and Mariental. Other challenges facing Namibia include the widening gap between the rich and the poor. Even though statistics indicate that the Gini Coefficient rate has decreased by 0.1 percent from 0.7 to 0.6, this has not resulted in increased living standards for the poor. Due to poverty, many women have turned to prostitution to feed, clothe and send their children to school. Sindano said women going into sex work were increasing and also increasing the chances of them being infected and infecting others with HIV/AIDS. “And due to HIV/AIDS, the economy is losing because people whom the nation has educated do not get to the point of working to contribute to the economy,” he added.