Bushes cleared at Okahandja after gruesome murders

A government-led task force has begun safety and counselling interventions at Okahandja following the recent killing of three girls at the town.

The safety task force is led by minister of gender equality and child welfare Emma Kantema.

She told Desert FM this week that the Ministry of Home Affairs, Immigration, Safety and Security will be debushing areas at the town and will increase its presence throughout Okahandja.

This comes after president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah called for a committee tasked with drafting strategic interventions to ensure child safety after the murders of Ingrid Maasdorp (5), Roswinds Fabianu (6) and Beyonce !Kharuxas (15).

In addition to debushing, the gender ministry set up a team that started with psychosocial support at KW von Marees Combined School, where Maasdorp and Fabianu were pupils.

“A multidisciplinary team will provide support, cognisant of the situation that the pupils are faced with in terms of grief, in terms of post-traumatic stress disorders they may display following the incidents, and also to provide support to the teachers, because they are equally affected, and to the families at large,” Kantema said.

She said the committee is considering the possibility of security guards at the school’s gates, and a school patrol, especially where pupils are being dropped off.

“It’s a bit of a distance, especially for the smaller ones,” she said.

Kantema said members of the school board have also been engaged.

“ . . . to also hear from them what it is that needs to be done, what they are proposing, because we appreciate the views of the people who are affected and the community at large,” she said.

MARCH

National Organisation of Parents in Education chairperson Paulus Hawanga this week said the call by the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sport, Arts and Culture for all schools to take part in a march against violence towards children yesterday, was commendable.

“We need to express how we feel about this,” he said.

He said the protest march would make the perpetrators realise the effect their crimes have on the nation.

“There’s nowhere better to condemn this,” Hawanga said.

Okahandja activist Gerub Gaseb yesterday said up to 3 000 people were expected to participate in the march.

“We will aid those from Windhoek, because we are expecting a big crowd from Windhoek to be present,” he said.

The march was to kick off under the town’s newly built bridge and would end at the Okahandja Magistrate’s Court.

“Today will be an opportunity for our community to express their anger. We allow them,” he said yesterday.