Child marriage is violence, not culture

A country where 40% of minors in one region are married off is not preserving culture – it is failing its children. The figures revealed by home affairs minister Lucia Iipumbu in Kavango East expose a crisis, not a tradition. Child marriage is poverty, inequality and power disguised as custom. The government’s zero-tolerance stance is necessary.

Criminalising communities without addressing why families turn to child marriage only treats the symptom, not the disease. And the government cannot solve this alone. Traditional leaders, churches, schools, civil society and families must take responsibility. Gender-based violence is not only when partners harm each other.

Child marriage itself is violence – placing a child in an unequal, adult relationship where consent does not exist. What drives a grown man to salivate over a child? Where is the shame of a grown man pursuing a child? That is not culture. That is exploitation. Parents who sell off small girls are not ending poverty, but worsening it. Namibia cannot speak of development while children are pushed into marriage. Ending this requires collective action – and real alternatives for girls – or the cycle will continue.