KATUTURA East constituency councillor Ruben Sheehama said poverty, which mainly results from unemployment, continues to fuel crime in the constituency.
Sheehama, who was speaking at a community meeting on Wednesday, urged the community to pull its efforts and assist in ensuring that solutions are found to the rising crime rates in the constituency.
The community meeting was aimed at outlining the challenges his constituency is faced with.
“Namibia has numerous resources, but not everyone is benefiting from them. Katutura East needs these resources to advance its residents. The constituency needs employment created,” he said.
He stressed that the Katutura East constituency is plagued with high levels of criminal activity, putting the police, his office and other residents under additional pressure.
In line with this, the councillor called for an increase in law enforcement in his constituency.
The councillor further stressed that the high levels of crime are mostly observed amongst the youth, calling on parents to teach their children to differentiate right from wrong from an early age.
He said his constituency is also faced with frequent incidents of alcohol abuse as a result of poverty.
He stressed that poverty and unemployment are some of the major factors that have led to high levels of crime in the Katutura East constituency, and requires urgent intervention.
“These things need to be dealt with for the advancement of the community,” he said.
Other challenges the constituency is faced with, according to Sheehama, are unemployment, landlessness, the lack of service delivery and drug abuse.
Sheehama noted that very few Katutura East residents receive food from the food bank, but insisted he is working towards ensuring that all those in need benefit. He intends to hand over a list of all the beneficiaries to the poverty eradication ministry.
Community policing officer Rachel Kampala said key among the challenges faced by the community are drug abuse, housebreaking and alcoholism.
Kampala stated that the community has high crime rates but that community members do not always report the crimes.
Sharing the councillor’s sentiments, she called on parents to educate their children and to steer them away from lives of crime.
“Katutura East is faced with a lot of criminal activity such as housebreaking, and the issue is that parents are not reporting these issues when their children are involved in these activities. In a nutshell, what I want to say is the community should work with the police in combating crime. We as the police are here to help the community and rid it of crimes,” Kampala said.
Representing the Women and Men Network Neighbourhood Watch for Katutura East, Naimbodi Kalume also called on the community to work together in combating crime, calling on the community to start a neighbourhood watch. She said this would be one way to rid the community of crime.
