This Week In The Khuta – Why do what we can in 2030 when we can do it in 2013

This week my heart bled for yet another family that has to bury their young daughter after she was brutally raped and killed and left in a veld near her home. Once again I asked myself why someone would be so cruel as to harm a girl that young, someone who was full of life, a go-getter and a blessing to her family. Rina !Nau/gawases became the latest victim to be added to the long black list of rape and murder cases in Namibia.
The Vision 2030 statement supported by the National Development plans adopted by government talks about what Namibia hopes to achieve by 2030. I feel that there is need for a different vision statement, one that states what ‘We’ as Namibian s would like to achieve as humans, one that talks about love for one another, and highlights just how inhumane it is for one to rape, kill or rob another person. I feel that this vision statement would make a difference in the lives of my Namibian sisters. I am not saying it should be be drafted by parliament, or that it must be approved by government and turned into a policy and strategy document, no! this vision statement should be drafted in our hearts and souls where it will serve as a reminder that every life is precious.
Before we achieve the goals that we want to achieve in 2030 we must first look at the way we are living right now. Those lofty development goals set by government can not and will not be achieved as long as we live in a nation where there are too many sick and twisted individuals.
We the people of Namibia have journeyed this far and will be celebrating 23 years of Independence shortly. We are living in a country that we fought for and remade, and yet in 2013 we have not created an atmosphere were every one feels free to live in, an atmosphere where everyone embraces her or his full potential. Instead, what we have done is create an atmosphere so hostile that Namibia has been named the 7th most miserable place to live in the world according to a popular survey I read about in another newspaper.
Do you hear this load and clear? Not just in the southern region of Africa, or on the continent but in the whole wide world. We have no one to blame but ourselves. Being miserable does not come from being poor, or living in a shack, being miserable is about destroying that which you love or what others love the most and I am afraid to say that we are doing a very good job at that. So we should not even begin to argue against that statement because to me it is a proven fact.
Namibian men have been taken ill under the “women asked to be raped” syndrome. Who on God’s green and brown earth asks to be sexually violated?. Who in their right senses would leave their home and say to themselves “Today I want to get raped”. Come on my brothers let’s be different from all the other men, you can’t justify the raping of women by saying they asked for it simply because they wear mini skirts. That is just a shallow way of thinking and all of you that think that way should have your brains removed because they are not helping yourselves to make the best decisions. Will it take you a day into the life of a brutally raped woman, or a traumatised mother who has lost her only hope of a better life to realise that rape and murder are the most extreme form of cruelty?
Truth be told there is nothing really to celebrate this Independence Day. As long as we are infringing upon the lives of others we should just let the day pass and give our foreign residents a break. Shame on whoever will display their foolishness and hold parties and drink themselves into a stupor, all in the name of celebrating Independence. Instead make a difference, be your sister’s and your brother’s keeper. Look away when that sister passes by with a mini skirt. Remember she is your sister.