Girl’s killing condemned

THE horror slaying of Magdalena Stoffels has unleashed a storm of condemnation from across the country and she is set to become the face of the voiceless victims of violence in Namibia following the tsunami of emotion that has erupted since her violent death on Tuesday morning.

Petitions and letters of support and outrage spread rapidly across Namibia’s cyberspace yesterday, following the violent death of Stoffels (17) at the hands of an alleged rapist.Classmates of Stoffels yesterday recounted that Stoffels, who was always early at school, complained of feeling unwell and was given permission to return home during the first school period of the day.A few hundred metres from the Dawid Bezuidenhout school, Stoffels’s life was suddenly, and horrifically, cut short when a 31-year-old suspect allegedly attacked her, raped her, slit her throat and left her to die in the riverbed, where she was found dying.’The way she left us. You get these thoughts – how were her last hours, what where her last thoughts before she died?’ her distraught brother and closest friend, Eduardo Clyton Stoffels, said yesterday.Since then, protesters have taken to the streets demanding justice and people from all walks of life have begun petitions and signed up for several marches to have their voices heard and condemn rapists and violent attackers.President Hifikepunye Pohamba also condemned the rape and murder. Nampa quoted the President, speaking yesterday upon his arrival from Uganda, as saying:’I condemn that [the rape and murder] in the strongest terms, and ask law-enforcement agencies to do everything possible.’ A march organised by University of Namibia students will take place today near the Magistrate’s Court in Katutura, where the suspect is expected to make his first court appearance this morning.’We need to do something, she was a young girl who still had her entire life in front of her,’ Natasha Janga, a social worker intern at Unam, said yesterday.Rape in Namibia is a national crisis, with the country ranked third out of 53 countries on the number of rape cases reported annually. ‘This is not a flashy new problem, but it is a problem we have not yet come to grips with,’ said Dianne Hubbard, co-ordinator of the Gender Research and Advocacy Project at the Legal Assistance Centre.Hubbard said the incident was a ‘good wake-up call’ for Namibians, who have become complacent about the issue of rape amidst a number of other social issues that plague the country.’I hope it renews the country’s resolve to do something about this,’ she said.Hubbard said while the community was focusing largely on the issue of punishment, it was even more crucial to focus on prevention.Clive Willemse, chairperson of the Khomasdal Community Forum, said the reaction of the community, and people from across Namibia, has given momentum to the drive towards prevention and highlighting the vulnerability of youth. ‘The people are very, very angry. They feel that serious action needs to be taken now. We need more preventive measures to be put in place.’Willemse spoke shortly after a meeting held at the Dawid Bezuidenhout High School, attended by the principal, Johannes Hill, and Abraham Kanime, chief of the City Police.At the meeting, key points were discussed, mainly regarding increased safety of schoolchildren and the march by the school and community members scheduled for tomorrow at 10h00.Willemse said the Community Forum had launched a campaign to clean up the riverbed close to the school by burning and cutting down bushes.’The first step is to look at practical solutions,’ he said. He agreed that this ‘gruesome act’ should be a wake-up call and said it was crucial to keep the momentum of the emotion going, in order to bring real change.’We need to ask ourselves now, what do we do as leaders, as a community, and we need to underscore the vulnerability of our children.’

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