Who are Namibia's child molesters?
By: Annelie OdendaalTHE problem of violence in Namibian society is currently receiving much attention.
Crime, especially violent crime, is increasing rapidly in southern
Africa, and alarmingly so in Namibia.
Murder, rape, robbery, assault, child abuse and domestic
violence are prominent examples of varieties of violence that have
been the subject of extensive media coverage and academic research
during recent years.
Fifteen years into independence, a brutal wave of child rape and
murder, followed by a farm massacre that left eight people dead,
has Namibians once again crying out for the reinstatement of the
death penalty.
Namibia is outraged.
While women are marching the streets and men call on fellow men
to unite against violence against women and children, the death
penalty is debated in coffee shops, the media, and parliament.
These discussions repeat the same questions without apparent
solutions each time a sensational murder or rape is reported: Why
do men in Namibia continue to rape and kill the innocent? What is
happening in the new Namibia, why can't we reinstate the death
sentence? The problem of child rape in Namibia, however, is not as
new as we would like to believe.
Child rape in Namibia was officially recorded to have occurred
as early as April 1915 when a young German farmer, residing at the
Maltahoehe District, was accused of raping a local seven-year-old
girl.
The farmer was eventually acquitted because of a lack of
evidence and because 'a small matter of this sort was not worth
troubling about'.
As crime disrupts social order, various forms of punishment have
been used throughout time to protect society.
Putting offenders behind bars is contemporary Namibian society's
way of illustrating its disapproval of crime.
Imprisonment as a form of punishment was relatively unknown
until the end of the European Middle Ages.
It was later introduced to the African continent by colonial
powers.
In Namibia, the death penalty was originally introduced in 1858,
by Jonker Afrikaner and 19 other chiefs at a peace conference.
This conference resulted in the Treaty of Hoachanas that
prescribed the procedures applicable to a murder trial and the
execution of the death sentence.
The death sentence as a form of punishment in Namibia was
maintained by successive colonial powers until it was officially
abolished in 1989, the year before Namibia's independence.
When the Namibian Constitution came into force with Independence
in 1990, it emphasised the right to life and offered Namibians an
opportunity to reshape their views on crime and punishment.
Political ideas in Namibia changed from brutal oppression to
democracy, and penal policy had to be transformed from retribution
to rehabilitation.
But while officially being committed to policies that aim at
making prisons more humane places and to return rehabilitated
offenders as law-abiding citizens into society, crime reached
levels never previously experienced in Namibia, causing societal
havoc.
In contemporary Namibia, the new Namibian criminal justice
system has not yet produced respected social resources of
authority.
Whereas justice systems are being viewed in terms of their
practical results, the Namibian criminal justice system is
increasingly becoming a source of public concern.
It is believed that there is too much one-sided emphasis on the
rights of accused and convicted persons, and too little on the
legitimate rights of law-abiding citizens to safety.
It nevertheless remains a historical fact that Namibian prisons
and their punishment practices, like several other institutions in
Namibia, pre-date the country's Constitution.
Although disciplinary procedures have become more humane and
corporal punishment is no longer allowed, contact with families and
the community has been improved, and efforts were being made to
upgrade education, training and employment opportunities,
rehabilitation still remains an ideal to be realised.
Efforts to implement special treatment programmes are crippled
due to a lack of resources and the absence of adequate professional
skills.
The state can barely meet the most basic of prisoners' needs,
not to mention the effective implementation and operation of
expensive treatment programmes.
Namibian citizens generally believe that the Namibian
Constitution gives a lot of emphasis to the protection of criminals
and that 'prisons were turned into hotels and educational
institutions where convicts lead blissful lives, receiving
five-star treatment at the expense of the tax payer'.
But rather than exploring the deeper societal causes of crime,
perceptions of crime and corrections are often distorted by
informal methods of reasoning, rooted in feelings of anger, fear
and a lack of safety.
In times of crisis, Namibians tend to look at 'quick-fix'
solutions of the crime problem, such as the reinstatement of
capital punishment, and by doing so, shift the entire
responsibility of social reform and crime control to the criminal
justice system.
There is a suggestion that the Constitution is partly to blame
for the inability of criminal justice institutions to handle
crime.
There appears to be a belief that, if criminal justice
institutions and officials had more powers, as existed before
independence, it would enable them to successfully deal with
crime.
It is maintained that current sentences and prison conditions do
not deter criminals.
Crime should be dealt with by introducing tougher sentences,
recruiting more police officers, using sophisticated technology and
toughening up prison conditions, and that in fact, the death
penalty should be reinstated.
Unless you have been there, it is difficult to understand what
it is like to live in prison.
Prisons are places of persistent degradation where convicts are
to be reminded of their moral unworthiness.
Once in prison, inmates are officially designated as social
outcasts.
Here they remain under strict control and surveillance that
cause stress and threatens their self-esteem.
Emotional and psychological suffering in prisons is deliberately
inflicted.
Prisoners undergo a formal degradation ceremony when they are
imprisoned.
All their personal belongings are removed and they are required
to wear uniforms.
They are also deprived of a number of basic human rights that
are usually taken for granted in democratic societies.
These include deprivation of liberty, autonomy, goods and
services, heterosexual relationships and security.
Unfortunately these realities only dawn once the law-breaker is
confronted with actual prison life.
Research in South Africa proved that neither long sentences, nor
tough prison conditions deter criminals.
People commit crime because they no longer fear their law
enforcement agencies and believe they will get away with committing
their crime.
This is especially true of rape and child rape.
It is estimated that rapists have comfortably committed eight to
ten rapes before they are caught for the first time.
Still, for some Namibians their socio-economic situation is such
that they indeed have a better life in prison.
Poverty, alcoholism and violence have become part of everyday
life and, together with moral decay, are generally regarded as the
root causes of crime.
People without dignified living standards tend to be more
vulnerable to crime, both as perpetrators and victims.
Perpetrators and their victims are, after all, part and product
of the same society.
Despite high-profile condemnation of child rape and murder by
President Sam Nujoma and the Minister Netumbo Ndaitwa, the
recruitment of more police officers, the passing of tougher laws
(including the Combating of Rape Act and the Combating of Domestic
Violence Act), building more prisons, public outcries and threats
of returning the death penalty, crime against children continue to
take massive proportions.
Child molesters can have many different motivations for their
crimes.
And those motives, unlike in the case of paedophiles, are often
not of a sexual origin.
It is important to understand the difference between paedophiles
and molesters.
Paedophilia, which is a psychological disorder, is a distinct
sexual preference for pre-pubescent children.
Generally this means that the target of the fantasy will be less
than 12 years old.
Paedophilia is a psychological disorder that does not require,
and usually does not involve, a criminal act.
The paedophile might keep his desires a secret but can be very
determined to stay close to children.
Maintaining access to children at all costs is one of the
trademarks of paedophilia.
Contrary to popular belief, women do commit sexual crimes as
well.
Most often, these crimes fall into two categories: having sex
with underage/teen males constituting the crime of statutory rape
(which Namibia has seen a few of, recently), and those crimes where
they are administering punishment to a male child, when that
punishment includes sex organs.
Although we may think this type of sexual abuse is
insignificant, the effect of this abuse on the child should not be
underestimated.
Some of the most prolific serial killers in history have in
common a background that includes severe sexual-oriented
punishment.
Likewise, a shocking number of rapists and child rapists in
Namibian prisons have confessed to have been abused as children by
male relatives, older women and girls, or female teachers.
Most frequently, however, rapists are men who are emotionally
unstable, yet deal with life on a day-to-day basis in a reasonably
normal and competent manner.
They are often apparently 'normal' individuals, but have
difficulty relating to others in a lasting or permanent
fashion.
In most reported cases of sexual assault, the assailant is
likely to be a friend, date, relative, co-worker, or casual
acquaintance.
Child rapists also fit this picture.
They are usually either known or related to the victim, being in
a relation of trust with the victim.
Victims are usually not chosen because they are attractive or
asking for it, but because they are accessible and vulnerable.
But who are Namibia's child molesters generally? Do they fit
Namibia's criminal stereotype? Are they poor, immoral, violent
alcoholics? And what made these men commit such brutal acts against
children? Standing accused of raping, killing, assaulting, and
sodomising children of ages ranging from one to eleven years old in
February of this year only, are men representing a broad spectrum
of Namibian society: pastors, judges, security guards, teachers,
fathers, uncles…..
Their ages vary from 22 to 57.
Economically, culturally, and ethnically they each represent a
different reference group.
Some of them are single, some married.
With the exception of a recent university drop-out and a
recently fired security guard, all the accused were holding
employment in positions of trust and power.
But, being either related to, or known by their victims, all of
the accused occupied positions of trust when they committed their
acts.
As far as known, none of the accused has a criminal record or
previous convictions.
It is quite likely that most men committing violent crime
against children in Namibia are child- or situational child
molesters.
They would probably also comfortably fit into the general sex
offender profile.
But what can be done to prevent people from becoming sexually
deviant? Contrary to popular Namibian belief, neither castration,
nor execution will solve the problem of rape in our society.
Unfortunately, rehabilitation and prison sentences are all
deterrence techniques which means, in order for them to be
practiced, there first has to be a victim.
But there are already a number of problems in Namibia that could
be addressed as preventative measures: alcohol and drug abuse,
poverty and unemployment, social inequality and power deprivation,
irresponsible parenthood, inadequate (sex)-education, pornography,
and media violence, for instance.
Most theories on sexual deviance point to negative occurrences
during the offender's childhood and adolescent periods, a child's
most vulnerable and influential stages of behavioural
development.
Thus, the focus of complete prevention should ideally be geared
towards child bearing and raising.
A much higher emphasis on family values, education and
recreation should be the main focus.
This would require community participation by all Namibians and,
as rape has become a phenomenal societal problem in Namibia,
perhaps government supported research into sexual violence should
be undertaken.
After achieving results from these studies, community education
should follow.
Going proactive would be effective in educating the community of
the problem, ultimately placing them on a higher level of
awareness.
However, when addressing rape- and sex myths, all levels of
society should be involved: from school children to law makers.
* Annelie Odendaal is currently employed as a senior lecturer in
Sociology at UNAM and has done this prison/violent offender
research for a PhD study.
Murder, rape, robbery, assault, child abuse and domestic violence
are prominent examples of varieties of violence that have been the
subject of extensive media coverage and academic research during
recent years.Fifteen years into independence, a brutal wave of
child rape and murder, followed by a farm massacre that left eight
people dead, has Namibians once again crying out for the
reinstatement of the death penalty.Namibia is outraged.While women
are marching the streets and men call on fellow men to unite
against violence against women and children, the death penalty is
debated in coffee shops, the media, and parliament.These
discussions repeat the same questions without apparent solutions
each time a sensational murder or rape is reported: Why do men in
Namibia continue to rape and kill the innocent? What is happening
in the new Namibia, why can't we reinstate the death sentence? The
problem of child rape in Namibia, however, is not as new as we
would like to believe.Child rape in Namibia was officially recorded
to have occurred as early as April 1915 when a young German farmer,
residing at the Maltahoehe District, was accused of raping a local
seven-year-old girl.The farmer was eventually acquitted because of
a lack of evidence and because 'a small matter of this sort was not
worth troubling about'.As crime disrupts social order, various
forms of punishment have been used throughout time to protect
society.Putting offenders behind bars is contemporary Namibian
society's way of illustrating its disapproval of crime.Imprisonment
as a form of punishment was relatively unknown until the end of the
European Middle Ages.It was later introduced to the African
continent by colonial powers.In Namibia, the death penalty was
originally introduced in 1858, by Jonker Afrikaner and 19 other
chiefs at a peace conference.This conference resulted in the Treaty
of Hoachanas that prescribed the procedures applicable to a murder
trial and the execution of the death sentence.The death sentence as
a form of punishment in Namibia was maintained by successive
colonial powers until it was officially abolished in 1989, the year
before Namibia's independence.When the Namibian Constitution came
into force with Independence in 1990, it emphasised the right to
life and offered Namibians an opportunity to reshape their views on
crime and punishment.Political ideas in Namibia changed from brutal
oppression to democracy, and penal policy had to be transformed
from retribution to rehabilitation.But while officially being
committed to policies that aim at making prisons more humane places
and to return rehabilitated offenders as law-abiding citizens into
society, crime reached levels never previously experienced in
Namibia, causing societal havoc.In contemporary Namibia, the new
Namibian criminal justice system has not yet produced respected
social resources of authority.Whereas justice systems are being
viewed in terms of their practical results, the Namibian criminal
justice system is increasingly becoming a source of public
concern.It is believed that there is too much one-sided emphasis on
the rights of accused and convicted persons, and too little on the
legitimate rights of law-abiding citizens to safety.It nevertheless
remains a historical fact that Namibian prisons and their
punishment practices, like several other institutions in Namibia,
pre-date the country's Constitution.Although disciplinary
procedures have become more humane and corporal punishment is no
longer allowed, contact with families and the community has been
improved, and efforts were being made to upgrade education,
training and employment opportunities, rehabilitation still remains
an ideal to be realised.Efforts to implement special treatment
programmes are crippled due to a lack of resources and the absence
of adequate professional skills.The state can barely meet the most
basic of prisoners' needs, not to mention the effective
implementation and operation of expensive treatment
programmes.Namibian citizens generally believe that the Namibian
Constitution gives a lot of emphasis to the protection of criminals
and that 'prisons were turned into hotels and educational
institutions where convicts lead blissful lives, receiving
five-star treatment at the expense of the tax payer'.But rather
than exploring the deeper societal causes of crime, perceptions of
crime and corrections are often distorted by informal methods of
reasoning, rooted in feelings of anger, fear and a lack of
safety.In times of crisis, Namibians tend to look at 'quick-fix'
solutions of the crime problem, such as the reinstatement of
capital punishment, and by doing so, shift the entire
responsibility of social reform and crime control to the criminal
justice system.There is a suggestion that the Constitution is
partly to blame for the inability of criminal justice institutions
to handle crime.There appears to be a belief that, if criminal
justice institutions and officials had more powers, as existed
before independence, it would enable them to successfully deal with
crime.It is maintained that current sentences and prison conditions
do not deter criminals.Crime should be dealt with by introducing
tougher sentences, recruiting more police officers, using
sophisticated technology and toughening up prison conditions, and
that in fact, the death penalty should be reinstated.Unless you
have been there, it is difficult to understand what it is like to
live in prison.Prisons are places of persistent degradation where
convicts are to be reminded of their moral unworthiness.Once in
prison, inmates are officially designated as social outcasts.Here
they remain under strict control and surveillance that cause stress
and threatens their self-esteem.Emotional and psychological
suffering in prisons is deliberately inflicted.Prisoners undergo a
formal degradation ceremony when they are imprisoned.All their
personal belongings are removed and they are required to wear
uniforms.They are also deprived of a number of basic human rights
that are usually taken for granted in democratic societies.These
include deprivation of liberty, autonomy, goods and services,
heterosexual relationships and security.Unfortunately these
realities only dawn once the law-breaker is confronted with actual
prison life.Research in South Africa proved that neither long
sentences, nor tough prison conditions deter criminals.People
commit crime because they no longer fear their law enforcement
agencies and believe they will get away with committing their
crime.This is especially true of rape and child rape.It is
estimated that rapists have comfortably committed eight to ten
rapes before they are caught for the first time. Still, for some
Namibians their socio-economic situation is such that they indeed
have a better life in prison.Poverty, alcoholism and violence have
become part of everyday life and, together with moral decay, are
generally regarded as the root causes of crime.People without
dignified living standards tend to be more vulnerable to crime,
both as perpetrators and victims.Perpetrators and their victims
are, after all, part and product of the same society.Despite
high-profile condemnation of child rape and murder by President Sam
Nujoma and the Minister Netumbo Ndaitwa, the recruitment of more
police officers, the passing of tougher laws (including the
Combating of Rape Act and the Combating of Domestic Violence Act),
building more prisons, public outcries and threats of returning the
death penalty, crime against children continue to take massive
proportions.Child molesters can have many different motivations for
their crimes.And those motives, unlike in the case of paedophiles,
are often not of a sexual origin.It is important to understand the
difference between paedophiles and molesters.Paedophilia, which is
a psychological disorder, is a distinct sexual preference for
pre-pubescent children.Generally this means that the target of the
fantasy will be less than 12 years old.Paedophilia is a
psychological disorder that does not require, and usually does not
involve, a criminal act.The paedophile might keep his desires a
secret but can be very determined to stay close to
children.Maintaining access to children at all costs is one of the
trademarks of paedophilia.Contrary to popular belief, women do
commit sexual crimes as well.Most often, these crimes fall into two
categories: having sex with underage/teen males constituting the
crime of statutory rape (which Namibia has seen a few of,
recently), and those crimes where they are administering punishment
to a male child, when that punishment includes sex organs.Although
we may think this type of sexual abuse is insignificant, the effect
of this abuse on the child should not be underestimated.Some of the
most prolific serial killers in history have in common a background
that includes severe sexual-oriented punishment.Likewise, a
shocking number of rapists and child rapists in Namibian prisons
have confessed to have been abused as children by male relatives,
older women and girls, or female teachers.Most frequently, however,
rapists are men who are emotionally unstable, yet deal with life on
a day-to-day basis in a reasonably normal and competent manner.They
are often apparently 'normal' individuals, but have difficulty
relating to others in a lasting or permanent fashion.In most
reported cases of sexual assault, the assailant is likely to be a
friend, date, relative, co-worker, or casual acquaintance.Child
rapists also fit this picture.They are usually either known or
related to the victim, being in a relation of trust with the
victim.Victims are usually not chosen because they are attractive
or asking for it, but because they are accessible and vulnerable.
But who are Namibia's child molesters generally? Do they fit
Namibia's criminal stereotype? Are they poor, immoral, violent
alcoholics? And what made these men commit such brutal acts against
children? Standing accused of raping, killing, assaulting, and
sodomising children of ages ranging from one to eleven years old in
February of this year only, are men representing a broad spectrum
of Namibian society: pastors, judges, security guards, teachers,
fathers, uncles…..Their ages vary from 22 to
57.Economically, culturally, and ethnically they each represent a
different reference group.Some of them are single, some
married.With the exception of a recent university drop-out and a
recently fired security guard, all the accused were holding
employment in positions of trust and power.But, being either
related to, or known by their victims, all of the accused occupied
positions of trust when they committed their acts.As far as known,
none of the accused has a criminal record or previous
convictions.It is quite likely that most men committing violent
crime against children in Namibia are child- or situational child
molesters.They would probably also comfortably fit into the general
sex offender profile.But what can be done to prevent people from
becoming sexually deviant? Contrary to popular Namibian belief,
neither castration, nor execution will solve the problem of rape in
our society.Unfortunately, rehabilitation and prison sentences are
all deterrence techniques which means, in order for them to be
practiced, there first has to be a victim.But there are already a
number of problems in Namibia that could be addressed as
preventative measures: alcohol and drug abuse, poverty and
unemployment, social inequality and power deprivation,
irresponsible parenthood, inadequate (sex)-education, pornography,
and media violence, for instance.Most theories on sexual deviance
point to negative occurrences during the offender's childhood and
adolescent periods, a child's most vulnerable and influential
stages of behavioural development.Thus, the focus of complete
prevention should ideally be geared towards child bearing and
raising.A much higher emphasis on family values, education and
recreation should be the main focus.This would require community
participation by all Namibians and, as rape has become a phenomenal
societal problem in Namibia, perhaps government supported research
into sexual violence should be undertaken.After achieving results
from these studies, community education should follow.Going
proactive would be effective in educating the community of the
problem, ultimately placing them on a higher level of
awareness.However, when addressing rape- and sex myths, all levels
of society should be involved: from school children to law makers.
* Annelie Odendaal is currently employed as a senior lecturer in
Sociology at UNAM and has done this prison/violent offender
research for a PhD study.