EDITORIAL | Take Soldiers off the Streets, Use Appropriate Skills and Tools

THE KILLING OF taxi driver Fambauone Black on Thursday morning, because it was felt he was avoiding an impromptu roadblock, should have led to major changes in law-enforcement, instead of the dogged defence commanders are putting up.

Operations ‘Hornkranz’ and ‘Kalahari Desert’ may have been well-intended, but unfortunately they fall in the category of the despicable actions of United States president Donald Trump’s scorched-earth approach –– deploying brute force to solve any societal challenges.

The Namibian Police, the military and government leaders should realise sooner rather than later that having armoured vehicles on the streets will drive criminals underground, but will not reduce crime. Winter and darkness will probably do a better job than security forces to keep people off the streets.

When launching ‘Operation Kalahari Desert’, police chief Sebastian Ndeitunga was reported saying: “This operation should be more intensive than ‘Hornkranz’. Whoever challenges our power, should see us.”

Such combative language could have emboldened soldiers and police officers to continue using brute force, assaulting civilians for talking back or keeping out.

Commissioner Joseph Shimweelao Shikongo, the regional commander for Khomas, also dug in on Friday: “The shooting incident is regrettable, and I express our condolences to the family of the deceased. It must be noted by all that the objectives of the operation remain the same.”

Killing Black was not simply regrettable, it was avoidable. Killing and assaulting civilians should not be seen as collateral damage.

The soldier who shot Black dead may not have had a premeditated reason to kill the taxi driver, but the incident points to a lack of skill to do public policing, because firing like that in a residential area could have led to more casualties.

The Namibian Police have paramilitary units (Special Field Force and riot officers), in addition to a VIP division. If those have not been fully deployed already, questions should be answered why not.

Why are soldiers being sent onto the streets when Namibia is not experiencing a state of emergency threatening the country’s democratic existence?

Why are Namibians effectively being placed under curfew, without legal processes being followed?

We have before proposed that the government reduces the military, which not so long ago outnumbered the police by 2:1 (budget documents now suggest the military has 23 000 staff positions, compared to 17 000 for the police). More money continued to be spent on the military than crime fighting.

Black’s killing points to a misplaced use of resources and priorities. If taken together with similar killings of civilians by the police (Matheus Shipanga at a roadblock, and Frieda Ndatipo at the Swapo head office), there is a need for improved skills to handle crime.

There’s also a need to redirect taxpayer funds spent on military gadgets towards crime fighting and crime intelligence.

The militarisation of crime-fighting should change, soldiers should be withdrawn from the streets, and the right tools (including policies) should be used to tackle crime, which stubbornly remains one of the top four most intractable societal ills.

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