By Kakunawe Shinana
OSHAKATI – EWA, so now once again the whole country is abuzz with talk of the passion crime that happened recently at Oshakati where a young female laboratory technician had her life ended in the most inhumane way.
In the wake of this horrendous ugly phenomenon that clearly indicates the breakdown in morals and social norms in our country, it turned out that as usual we Namibians all have our opinions and how disgusted we are with the culprit and some mentally-challenged men as there appears to be no end in sight to these cruel, inhumane, callous acts of violence. And yes, we should be disgusted and afraid for our lives too as women of the “Land of the Brave.” However, it seems as though it would take hundreds of years before this country gets serious about gender-based violence and the ongoing passion killings. Moreover, this situation seems to make a mockery of our president’s numerous calls to finding solutions to gender-based violence and passion killings. The many incidents of violence are, no matter how one looks at it, a serious cause for concern for all of us. There is just no excuse whatsoever. The question is who is to blame here? These endemic crimes have become a curse for our country and I have noticed that in the prevailing environment it has become the norm to witness passionate public discussions and condemnations, again and again. We condemn the lawmakers and accuse them of not being serious. We condemn the police and accuse them of not strictly enforcing the laws and bringing the culprits to book. We even blame the media for coverage of these incidents, and accuse them of inciting more violence, because apparently other sick, evil minded fellas out there would use what they see reported in the media as an example for them to follow.
How do we tell which psycho is busy sitting in some dark room somewhere plotting in the most heartless manner how to kill their partners? We can never tell really. I remember that in previous cases the blame was put on the female victims, who were often accused of having chopped their partners’ moola by using them to pay for their upkeep, Brazilian hair, studies and whatsoever and the angry partners would apparently kill the girlfriend when they tried to end the relationship, because they have invested too much in the lady and thus cannot end the relationship. They cannot stomach the prospect of being heartbroken when the woman falls in love with someone else, who has not even paid a cent supporting her. You would hear women being told to refrain from “chopping” the money of their boyfriends and that even made the victim look like they were the ones to blame. Now, in this case the tables have turned, because as reported the lady was the one “investing” in this sicko by even paying for his accommodation. I say sicko, because how can you imagine a young man of 24 taking the time to decapitate another human being, what could have been going through his head while he was busy at it. He must be sick so he is a sicko, am not going to wait for shrink to evaluate him and declare him sane or insane, the guy is just insane plain and simple. Anyway, let me break it down. My point is that no amount of talk, media coverage, discussions and condemnation will put an end to this scourge of gender-based violence and so-called passion killings. Clamouring for the re-instatement of the death penalty won’t help, because these sickos also take their own lives. Maybe it’s time we look to other means, family support, religion and others. There is probably a need for us as parents to start raising our children by enforcing the values of peace and respect for women and human rights. By the way for those who seemingly are confused about the term “passion killing” according to Wikipedia: A crime of passion refers to a violent crime, especially murder in which a perpetrator commits the act against someone because of a sudden strong impulse such as sudden rage rather than as a premeditated crime.