Editorial: Namibia’s child rape crisis

Endless, tragic and sickening reports of children being raped by people they trust, including their own biological fathers, continue to make headlines in Namibia.

Many girls fall pregnant at ages when it is clear a crime has been committed and when they should be focusing on their education, not raising a child.

And yet, this crisis, which has been unfolding for many, many years, seems to never draw the kind of attention and condemnation other topics in our country are sure to attract immediately and heatedly.

There are various reasons offered by experts why Namibia is grappling with a severe child rape crisis. Poverty makes people vulnerable. Vulnerabilities can be easily exploited. And, in Namibia, there is no doubt that it is.

Older men prey on young girls in exchange for the very basics: food, pads, school materials, and clothes. We laugh, we ridicule, and ultimately, we accept this as a norm. That is inexcusable. These culprits should be publicly shamed, and their actions should have severe, immediate legal consequences.

In their wake, these men leave girls who will struggle with a host of psychosocial problems for years to come and often have children who also become caged in a cycle of poverty, again exposed to men who abuse their vulnerability.