Standstill Against GBV

Imagine ending the year and the person who killed your child is still walking around freely.

Christmas is coming. The ‘Okahandja Child Murders’ have faded from the headlines and the world has burst into seasonal festivity.

Despite the mood of celebration, the cold beers and the smell of braai fires, the killing has not abated. The recent murders of Namibian women like Justine Nelenge, Maggie Xoagus, Imolatria Goases and Juanita Karolus haunt the collective Christmas spirit, reminding us that something is deeply, desperately wrong.

As the world readies to commemorate 16 Days of Activism (from 25 November to 10 December), the relentless and deadly violence against Namibian women and children is sending local protesters to the streets.

At 12h00 on 21 November, in a show of solidarity with Women for Change (South Africa), who will be hosting a national standstill on the same day, Namibian protesters will simply lie down.

They will lie down in Windhoek, Opuwo, Witvlei, Otjiwarongo, Ondangwa, Ongwediva, Katima Mulilo, Rundu, Kehemu, Rehoboth, Walvis Bay and Swakopmund.

Billed as ‘Namibia’s National Women’s Shutdown’, the silent protest will last 15 minutes, and participants are asked to wear black when arriving at the designated meeting points. While the protests are silent, participants are welcome to bring candles and posters.

One of the aims of the protest is to urge the Namibian government to ramp up efforts to combat sexual and gender-based violence (GBV).

To this end, The Slut Shame Movement has launched a change.org petition titled ‘Declare GBVF a National Disaster in Namibia’. The petition is steadily gaining signatures and calls for immediate and decisive action.

In a list of 12 demands, the petition asks the government to declare GBV and femicide a national disaster to unlock emergency funding.

Recommendations include the establishment of a national emergency GBV task force and the allocation of emergency funding for survivor shelters, specialised courts, medical and psychosocial care, legal aid and rapid forensic capacity. The petition calls for improved data collection and public reporting on statistics.

It also recommends a nationwide prevention campaign focused on men and boys, community accountability and school-based education.

The petition addresses opposing bail for perpetrators, revision of the National Plan of Action on GBV and accountability for public officials who mishandle GBV and femicide cases. A sexual harassment bill, the criminalisation of misogyny and the launch of the national sex offenders’ registry concludes the list of demands.

If these interventions seem unnecessary or excessive, you may not be paying attention.

The Namibian Police records that 4 405 cases of GBV were reported between April 2024 and February 2025 – 1 345 of these cases were rape.

These are just the incidents that were reported.

Stigma, victim blaming, unsensitised public officials as well as a lack of faith in the judicial process means many cases go unreported.

Namibian Police inspector general Joseph Shikongo has also drawn attention to the country’s rising number of child sexual abuse cases.

Last year, six lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning and intersex community members were brutally murdered.

In October and November of this year, women’s bodies have been dumped behind schools and in riverbeds in Windhoek and at Usakos. The timeline – mere weeks and days between each gruesome murder – is chilling. And it should give us pause.

Perhaps today’s silent protest is one such pause.

A moment to remember the dead, to meet and regroup and to renew the promise of justice.

– martha@namibian.com.na; Martha Mukaiwa on Twitter and Instagram; marthamukaiwa.com

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