Ester Mbathera
The executive director in the Office of the Prime Minister, Gladice Pickering, says laws alone are not enough to deal with the root causes of gender-based violence, rape, and domestic assault.
Pickering said this on Monday at a high-level panel hosted by Open Society Foundations and Action Coalition-Namibia, under the theme “The Land of the Brave”.
Her comments come after a series of disturbing, violent crimes reported across the country recently.
“If we don’t dig deep into the root causes and we are brutally honest with ourselves and each other, we are not going to win this fight against gender-based violence, domestic violence and rape. We have some of the best laws in the world on combating domestic violence and combating rape. We are not addressing the root causes, in my humble opinion,” said Pickering.
She added that if she were empowered to make one irreversible decision, she would ban the sale of alcohol in the country.
The latest incident happened at Onekwaya West village in the Ohangwena region, where the 95-year-old Kilus Hishongwa was murdered by his 35-year-old grandson on Monday.
The suspect, allegedly under the influence of drugs, first shot his 25-year-old cousin with a bow and arrow before attacking his grandfather.
Hishongwa was killed with a panga, and his body was found disfigured.
The suspect then tried to break into a clinic where the injured cousin sought help before he returned home and told onlookers he had killed his grandfather.
He was later arrested after a standoff with the police.
Reports from the Namibian Police show rising incidents of rape, domestic violence and assault in the past four weeks.
Preliminary reports indicating that 13 people were allegedly murdered, nine women were raped, and eight others allegedly assaulted between 20 March and 11 April.
At a farm in Dordabis, a 24-year-old man stabbed his 22-year-old girlfriend 26 times.
Her body was found 6 kilometres from the farmhouse.
The suspect handed himself over, and both murder weapons were recovered.
Members of an Usakos family were allegedly murdered by another family member.
Other murder incidents were reported at Tsumeb and Ngoma.
Several murder and attempted murder cases are also under investigation at Otjiwarongo, Onesi, Keetmanshoop, Rundu, Kuisebmond and Klein Aub.
Rape Incidents
In Karasburg, a 12-year-old girl was raped in an abandoned building. In Otjiwarongo, a 14-year-old girl was raped by her brother.
In Mariental, a 17-year-old girl was dragged into a house and raped after being sent to ask for money.
In Tsandi, a man allegedly pulled an 8-year-old girl into a donkey cart and raped her.
In Tsumeb, a 24-year-old woman woke up naked with signs of sexual assault after drinking the previous night.
Police are still searching for the suspect.
Robbery and Assault
Police are also investigating several robbery and assault incidents.
Aggravated robbery cases were reported in Okahao on 12 April and Usakos on 21 March.
Assault cases were reported in Outapi and Okahandja on 5 April and 6 April.
Some assault cases involved domestic violence.
Police investigations are ongoing in all reported incidents.
Human rights lawyer Norman Tjombe, who also spoke at the OSF event, said violence has become normalised in the country.
“We are a nation of brutal people. Every week, a woman dies at the hands of her lover, husband, or ex-boyfriend. Every week. Not a single week will pass without you hearing of a woman who was killed,” he said.
Tjombe said people must stop seeing violence as a way to deal with relationship problems.
“We need to talk to men. Violence is not the way to address that. That culture needs to change,” he said.
