Tackling spatial apartheid
Black Namibians have endured a painful history.
The scars of apartheid, with all its brutality are still fresh in the memory of many Namibians, who have shared those memories with their children.
It is no secret that we are a country that hasn't fully dealt with our troubled past, this is why racial relations are so fragile.
We still have skewed wealth distribution and the majority of black Namibians, still struggle to access economic opportunities and languish in seemingly endless poverty, much of it a direct result of our segregated and unequal past.
As such, we should guard against provocative activities, the kind that some neighbourhood watches around our more affluent neighbourhoods continue to make themselves guilty of.
We continue to hear horror stories about the kind of treatment mostly black Namibians are subjected to – in the neighbourhoods they call home – in an independent Namibia.
Many Namibians have shared experiences of how they have been asked to explain what they are doing in a certain neighbourhood at a certain time of day or night.
This may as well have something to do with fighting crime, but for older Namibians, it reeks of what was previously known as 'die swart gevaar'.
This is largely because the blackness of people still means “danger” to some.
What needs to be done?
We need to strengthen law enforcement and public protection in this country and if we insist on having community watch groups, then we need to have them as inclusive as possible.
In affluent areas, they need training on race relations; they need to know that racial issues are sensitive and emotional issues.
What we should not allow, is for people to be treated like sub-humans in their own country or neighbourhood for that matter – or allow people's skin colour to equate to thievery or criminality.
Black people are no threat to any life in Kleine Kuppe, Avis, Eros, Pioneerspark or Ludwigsdorf, but thieves and criminals are.
Black people are no threat to life and wealth in Swakopmund or Henties Bay, thieves and criminals are.
What we need is neighbourhood watches that will unite people across racial lines to bring about positive change.
The scars of apartheid, with all its brutality are still fresh in the memory of many Namibians, who have shared those memories with their children.
It is no secret that we are a country that hasn't fully dealt with our troubled past, this is why racial relations are so fragile.
We still have skewed wealth distribution and the majority of black Namibians, still struggle to access economic opportunities and languish in seemingly endless poverty, much of it a direct result of our segregated and unequal past.
As such, we should guard against provocative activities, the kind that some neighbourhood watches around our more affluent neighbourhoods continue to make themselves guilty of.
We continue to hear horror stories about the kind of treatment mostly black Namibians are subjected to – in the neighbourhoods they call home – in an independent Namibia.
Many Namibians have shared experiences of how they have been asked to explain what they are doing in a certain neighbourhood at a certain time of day or night.
This may as well have something to do with fighting crime, but for older Namibians, it reeks of what was previously known as 'die swart gevaar'.
This is largely because the blackness of people still means “danger” to some.
What needs to be done?
We need to strengthen law enforcement and public protection in this country and if we insist on having community watch groups, then we need to have them as inclusive as possible.
In affluent areas, they need training on race relations; they need to know that racial issues are sensitive and emotional issues.
What we should not allow, is for people to be treated like sub-humans in their own country or neighbourhood for that matter – or allow people's skin colour to equate to thievery or criminality.
Black people are no threat to any life in Kleine Kuppe, Avis, Eros, Pioneerspark or Ludwigsdorf, but thieves and criminals are.
Black people are no threat to life and wealth in Swakopmund or Henties Bay, thieves and criminals are.
What we need is neighbourhood watches that will unite people across racial lines to bring about positive change.
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Namibian Sun
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