The girl (16) who was employed as a domestic worker without pay at Oshiyagaya village in the Oshikoto region until the police discovered the case, says she had been desperate to escape her employer.
“I want to go home, but I can’t afford to,” she says in a video that circulated on social media over the weekend.
The teenager, originally from Calonga village at Cuvelai in Angola’s Cunene province, says she was lured by her employer, a pensioner (62), with the promise of N$500 a month.
She says she was, however, never paid.
The girl, who cannot be named to protect her identity, says she spent months living in harsh conditions at the village at Onyaanya working for the woman.
National police spokesperson deputy commissioner Kauna Shikwambi has confirmed the woman’s arrest in connection with the case.
The suspect is expected to appear in the Ondangwa Magistrate’s Court today.
The police say the woman employed the underage girl as a domestic worker, failed to provide her with food, and assaulted her by beating her with a stick.
The victim was first treated at Onyaanya Health Centre before being admitted to Onandjokwe Hospital over the weekend.
The teenager recounted her experience after she was found wandering through the village looking for help.
“She has employed me since last year, but she never pays me even after I work so hard in the field,” the girl says in the video.
According to the minor, she was often beaten if she was seen standing or resting.
“She beats me if she sees me standing up straight,” she says.
The girl says she was forced to sleep on the floor in a shack.
“I sleep in a shack that has no door, and I sleep on the floor because there are no blankets and no bed,” she says.
The shoes she is wearing in the video were not given to her, she says.
“I picked up the shoes I’m wearing,” she says.
She can’t go home because she has never been paid for her work, she says.
“I really want money to go home.”
The teenager claims she was threatened with arrest if she attempted to leave the household.
“She told me if I go anywhere she would report me to the police, and that is the reason why I never thought to go anywhere or tell anyone.”
Her situation came to light after she approached villagers asking for directions to the home of another Angolan domestic worker.
Priskilla Joseph, the wife of the Oshiyagaya village headman, told The Namibian on Saturday that she and her husband encountered the girl while she was looking for the other Angolan worker’s house.
They later learned that the worker she was trying to locate had already returned to Angola.
Joseph says the girl was promised a salary of N$500, which she never received.
“After seeing the state she was in, we immediately contacted the police for assistance to take her to hospital,” she says.
“She was in a terrible state. After we served her a meal, she asked if she could lie down and rest for a while because she was tired.”
‘SPEAK OUT’
Joseph is now urging community members to speak out when they suspect abuse.
“Do not remain silent on such matters. These are very serious,” she says.
Another villager, who asked not to be named, claims there have previously been concerns about conditions at the suspect’s house.
“They look like nobody cares for them,” the resident says, referring to the suspect’s grandchildren.
“We hear rumours that the children sometimes go to school hungry.”
The police have opened a case at Okatope Police Station of alleged contraventions of the Child Care and Protection Act, assault with the intent to cause grievous bodily harm, and contraventions of the Labour Act and the Combating of Trafficking in Persons Act.
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