A host of eminent personalities and celebrities have joined television personality Pombili Shilongo in her campaign to fight gender-based violence and calling for victims to speak out against the social ill.
Shilongo’s campaign is driven by the desire to combat the escalation of gender-based violence cases across the country.
What started as a simple campaign, albeit with a strong message against abuse in society, has now become a national focus, where most creatives are coming to action in fighting the curse that seems to be eating Namibia’s moral fabric away by each day.
While the popular presenter and former producer has taken it upon herself to deal with the ills of GBV in society by running a public campaign dispelling its dangers, her efforts have ignited robust debate on the topical issue that has claimed the lives of many Namibians across, attracting attention from other activists.
Shilongo has managed to harness energies of other creatives in the past few weeks to spread a strong message against perpetrators of GBV and encouraging victims to speak up against the scourge that has seen many suffering in silence.
Shilongo’s campaign is well-published on social media, where she wears makeup reminiscent of the victims of GBV and calling for a stand against the brutalisation of women and men who have suffered in the hands of the problem.
Commenting on the campaign, popular Namibian activist and gender expert Ngumane Karuihe Upi, Uncle G, has called on the Namibian society to go beyond using personalities in dealing with GBV. He said the challenge of GBV needs to be nursed from the root cause – moral decadency in society.’
“It takes more than using celebrities to fight GBV because some of the celebrities’ images are not as clean. Some might have been victims and some might have been perpetrators of this same challenge, so the issue comes back to society,” he said.