2018-07-17Staff Report 2 Staff Reporter KHORIXAS - Eighty people demonstrated at Khorixas yesterday and urged the local magistrate and the prosecutor not to grant bail to suspects involved in the horrific rape and murder cases. In the petition, the demonstrators said Albertina Uugulu Nepety was raped and murdered in her room and the late Dorothea !Hoaes and many others have been murdered. !Hoaes was brutally raped and murdered nearby /Gowati Hotel a few years ago. “They broke into her room and killed her. Why are we not even safe in our rooms and houses?” said Esna !Haradoes, the coordinator for the Swapo Party Women’s Council (SPWC), who organised the demonstration together with Catherine Tjiveze !Garas. “We, as women of Khorixas, want to be heard and recognized as human beings. It is sad to see men treating women brutally, raping, killing and abusing yet the law does not punish men and men and given bail,” complained !Haradoes. The women requested that men, who commit such heinous crimes, should not be granted bail. “They do not belong to humanity. A father raped his own daughter. How did the men feel when these poor women screamed? What did we do to deserve this inhuman treatment?” !Haradoes asked. The local SPWC coordinator questioned where real men, who used to be real husbands, fathers, uncles, brothers and grandfathers and who had provided a shoulder for distressed women to cry on, had gone. “Where are those men that used to stand up for women and not against women? Where are men who used to protect the women; who used to provide safety to women?” further queried !Haradoes. In the petition handed over to Penda Hamunyela, a local prosecutor, the women said they look up to men with respect and love yet they are not now acknowledged and they are treated brutally. “God took his time and created the women from men’s rib, women are part of men and therefore no women deserves cruel treatment coming from men. There are women out there who are still silent and live in abusive relationship, women are living in constant fear,” !Haradoes said. Two of the murder accused are in custody were not granted bail. 2018-07-17Staff Report 2
