EDITORIAL: The human cost of corruption

Corruption doesn’t just steal money - it steals lives. It robs the hungry of bread, the sick of medicine, and the jobless of opportunity. And while the headlines often focus on the high-flying crooks who orchestrate it, the fallout is far broader, sweeping up ordinary people who never had a hand in the crime.

Namibia is littered with examples. From Fishrot to the unfolding Namcor–Enercon scandal, we see the same story: educated, capable men and women now shackled, their dreams derailed, their families devastated.

Behind every accused face in the dock sits a trail of dependents: spouses, siblings, elderly parents, and babies with wide eyes and empty lunchboxes. These children didn’t sign any shady contracts. Their only misstep was being born into crooked homes.

Now many of these accused plead with courts for release - not just for their own freedom, but to care for their families. Suddenly, the same hands that allegedly diverted millions plead to change nappies and fetch kids from school.

And then there are the innocent bystanders - like the farmworkers profiled in today’s edition. Employed by David Strauss van der Linden, whose land reportedly hosted an illegal cannabis operation, they are now adrift, their livelihoods blown apart by a scandal they neither started nor benefited from. They, too, are casualties of corruption - a bullet they never fired, but one that found a whole in their stomachs.

Meanwhile, 34-year-old Victor Malima is on the run - fleeing justice, abandoning family, and dragging others into the shadows with him. A fugitive before 35.

And for what? We must look ourselves in the mirror and ask: Are these risks worth it? Is the price of fast money, backdoor deals, and political cover worth the wreckage left behind?