Namibia, gender-based violence and ritualistic killings

Sometimes information on the occurrence of ritual likings or specific ritualistic murders is hidden in articles and/or books. One has to read between the lines to discover a reference to these age-old, cruel, outdated and criminal practices.

Such was the case when I recently read an article written by Martha Mukaiwa, a writer and journalist based in Windhoek, Namibia. She is also a writer in residence at the International Writer Program.

Martha Mukaiwa recently gave us her view on Namibia as a peaceful country. In fact, she provides many examples to the contrary.

In an article published by The Namibian, she presents a picture of Namibia which is different from what we expect. The at times gruesome facts she presents are shocking and convincing. Besides, it is my honest view that one always has to listen to what people who know a country well have to say about their native country.

Martha Mukaiwa provides us with an insight in this southwestern African country which is not known in detail to the outside world. In particular she focuses on gender-based violence and the plight of LGBTQI+ people in Namibia. I fully share and support her plea for a more peaceful Namibia.

Therefor I wish to recommend her article. Moreover, Namibia does not often strike headlines with respect to ritualistic killings. Hence another reason why Martha Mukaiwa’s article deserves reading. For that reason I’ve included it below.
(webmaster FVDK)

Peace in Namibia?

Published: May 18, 2024
By: Martha Mukaiwa – The Namibian

The tale many of us like to tell is that Namibia is a peaceful country.

It’s a mantra we repeat, as if saying it incessantly will make it entirely true, as if to be at peace is simply to not be at literal war.

When struggles for independence near their end, most nations begin the work of penning promises and predicting the future.

They compose constitutions. They write about themselves in golden, glowing terms, assuring things like freedom, prosperity and peace.

But just because a nation is not at war does not mean it’s not beset with a spirit of violence.

The same beating, bloody compulsion that shouts from daily newspapers as they speak of countless murdered women, six slain LGBTQI+ citizens in the last nine months and myriad of unnamed rape victims violated on their way to work, on their way to school, on their way to anywhere.

So where, pray tell, is this peace?

This peace of mind, freedom from violence, from murder and from vanishing?

Is it in Kavango East, where a string of murders, many victims missing body parts, remain unsolved as locals whisper of ritual killings? (italics added by the webmaster FVDK)

Is it in the traumatised soul of the eight-year-old boy at Okalale village who, in less than a decade on this earth, has learnt that the punishment for stealing food is to be beaten with an electrical cable before being doused in boiling water?

I don’t dare look for peace in the life of a Windhoek woman who seemed to foresee her own fate.

“Gender-based violence has always been there. It has become a norm to some men. When the beating stops, they resort to killing, mind you, this should not be called passion killing ’cause there’s nothing passionate about it,” she wrote on Facebook in 2019.

“As a country we have turned a blind eye to the growing issue, this needs to be curbed before it escalates beyond return.”

And return she shall not.

Helen Onesmus was murdered in February this year.

Reports about her death allege she was killed by her husband and that they were in the process of divorcing.

Perhaps Onesmus’ peace was on the other side of such a separation, but no one and, most tragically, she will never know.

Onesmus joins a growing list of women murdered by local men this year.

Sixty-four-year-old Helena Wemmert was reportedly robbed, raped and murdered at her home at Rehoboth in January, when the suspect was out on bail regarding another murder case.

Reports say Lizelda Xoagus’ husband murdered her with a kitchen knife at their home at Grootfontein, stabbing her multiple times before pouring acid on her body in April.

Later that month, Delia Weimers-Maasdorp’s body was found wrapped in a blanket at her home in Klein Windhoek. A male suspect has been arrested for her murder.

Peace?

Pekakurua Sylvia Kaimu, mother of nine-year-old Avihe Cheryl Ujaha, says Avihe’s death will haunt her forever.

Avihe’s raped, mutilated and partially dismembered body was found dumped in a riverbed in 2018 and the case remains cold. (italics added by the webmaster FVDK)

Unlike Avihe, two teen girls raped in a riverbed at Rehoboth survived to tell their tale of returning from a prayer session only to be violated at knifepoint in January.

Ask the women, children and LGBTQI+ people of this country about peace and you’ll find there is, in fact, little to be had.

There is no peace when you fear rape and murder in your own home or in your community.

There is no peace in cold cases, in perpetrators roaming among us or when your country has zero functional safe houses for adult victims of gender-based violence.

There is even less when you worry your child won’t come home after going out to play.

There is certainly no peace when six members of your community have been brutally murdered in the last nine months and calls to criminalise your LGBTQI+ identities blare in the hate speech stoked by political and religious leaders in online comment sections, in malicious WhatsApp groups and in the street.

Namibia is a peaceful country, we say, as if many of its people, most often men, are not regularly, brutally and, at times, fatally violent.

Once, maybe, this brave and undeniably beautiful land may have been every bit of its post-independence ideals.

Perhaps, it was even the epitome of peaceful.

But years pass, promises fade and we must eventually see our current selves for who we truly are.

The first step in recovery is admitting we have a problem.

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

Source: Peace?

Kavango East is Namibia’s most northeastern Region – for the Kavango East Regional Council, click here

Opinion – Tapiwa Makore: The evil men do 

The brutal death of 7-year old Tapiwa Makore not only shocked people in Zimbabwe. Also in neighbouring countries people followed Zimbabwe’s most notorious ritual murder case. After all, ‘muti murders’ are well known in Southern Africa.

The following article was written by Prof. Jairos Kangira, who writes from Namibia.

Warning: Some readers may find the following article disturbing.
(FVDK).

Opinion – Tapiwa Makore: The evil men do 

Prof. Jairos Kangira – University of Namibia | UNAM · Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences
PhD in Rhetoric Studies (University of Cape Town)

Published: August 1, 2023
By: Prof Jairos Kangira – New Era Live, Namibia

Last month, when the Zimbabwe High Court sentenced to death the two murderers who brutally murdered seven-year old boy, Tapiwa Makore, for rituals in 2020, there was a sigh of relief in his family and among a groundswell of sympathisers in that country and internationally that had been traumatised by the horrific act of the convicts, Tapiwa Makore senior (the boy’s uncle) and Tafadzwa Shamba. Ironically, Tapiwa Makore senior killed his namesake, his brother’s son named after him.

Both the traditional media and social media were awash with stories and comments saying that the death sentence was an appropriate punishment for the two heartless men who killed Tapiwa and cut his body into parts after severing his head. That the killers cooked the boy’s head and took it to a traditional healer for muti purposes in Mozambique shows that some barbaric African beliefs in ritual killings still exist in some people’s sociocultural milieu in Zimbabwe. 

The killers’ motive in kidnapping the boy and murdering him on that fateful day was to use their victim’s body parts for muti to boost a cabbage business. In normal senses, people may ask what connection there is between human body parts and cabbages which need sufficient manure, fertiliser and water, not human blood, to grow. 

Senseless and irrational to think that their cabbage business could flourish by ritual killing. That the killers summoned the angels of death to play an oversight role as they butchered the innocent primary school boy for business purposes indicated the devils in them. For committing this dastardly and inhuman act, some have argued, these murderers deserved a worse punishment than the death penalty, if something like that exists. Others have argued that the two ritual killers must have their limbs cut off before they are finally hanged so that they can feel the pain before they die. This illustrates the depth of the contempt people have of these murderers.

This cold-blooded murder has led many rightful thinking people to question the sanctity and essence of human life, when a small boy can lose his life just like that to elders who should have protected him in the first place. Is life really worth living? Is life sacrosanct?  Is life sacred? 

These rhetorical questions come into one’s head when one hears about horrendous stories of the ritual killings of children. There are many moral verses in the Bible on what Jesus said about the care and innocence of children such as the seven-year-old Tapiwa Makore who unnecessarily had his life cut short at a tender age. 

I find this verse as one of the appropriate quotes of what Jesus said about children: “If anyone causes one of these little ones – those who believe in me – to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea (Matthew 18:6). This verse pronounces a death sentence to those who do bad things to innocent children. I am not a preacher, and I am not attempting to be one here. The point I am making is that, truly speaking, the chilling murder of Tapiwa Makore is a negation of what Jesus said about treatment of children.  

Instead of giving him love and kindness, the brutish elders drugged the unsuspecting boy using an illicit brew before they killed him and dismembered his lifeless body. A callous act, indeed.

When I was discussing Tapiwa Makore’s fate with my colleagues recently, we concluded that we could have faced the same fate when we were young. Each of us recounted the countless times we would be sent on errands by our parents to some remote villages on our own. We oftentimes looked after livestock in the plains and forests where we could have easily become victims of murder by unscrupulous elders from our villages or strangers. 

Truly, the murder of Tapiwa Makore is like fiction. It is a story best described as hell has no fire. 

Professor Jairos Kangira is a professor of English at the University of Namibia. Email address: kjairos@gmail.com

Source: Opinion – Tapiwa Makore: The evil men do 

Southern Africa region political map.

Namibia: Kavango’s Winter Ritual Murders

There’s not much reporting on ritual murders in Namibia, yet this ugly phenomenon also exists in this southern African country. Petrus Muronga and Puyeipawa Nakashole are to be commended for their investigative journalism leading to this revealing article about a wave of ritual murders in the upper north-eastern part of the country, in Kavango East. A striking characteristic of the more than 20 ritual murders is that they’re all committed during the winter.

In some murder cases the police have arrested some suspects but the frightened villagers want more action of the government. In the absence of effective and satisfying government action jungle justice threatens. Enough is enough. Who are the culprits? Why is government so slow in responding to this wave of ritual murders?

Warning: the following article contains graphic description of ritual murders,. Readers may be upset reading the shocking details (webmaster FVDK).

Regions of Namibia. Kavango East is situated in the north-eastern part off the country.

Winter time – ritual killing time in Kavango, Namibia

… missing body parts include lips, skin, fingers, toes, eyeballs, internal organs and private parts

RITUAL KILLING … Riaan Mukuve’s mother, Regina Mashodhi Mukuve, says she believes her son was mur- dered for ritual pur-poses as his body was found frozen with missing body parts. About 21 people have gone missing in north- eastern Namibia. Photo: James Jamu

Published: June 11, 2023
By: Petrus Muronga and Puyeipawa Nakashole

n Namibia, as winter dawns, the north-eastern part of the country is about to be shaken by shocking news.

Again.

One more body is found mutilated, much to the horror and heartbreak of the people of the Rudhiva and Shadikongoro villages in the Mukwe constituency.

The villages are situated on the south-eastern banks of the Okavango River in Kavango East.

In this part of the country, people draw their breath beneath the dark clouds of what is believed to be ritual killings. And they all seem to take place in winter.

The unsolved deaths all have one thing in common: missing body parts like lips, skin, fingers, toes, eyeballs, internal organs and private parts.

SHATTERED DREAMS

In 2021, on a trip meant to accompany his friends to the memorial service of a loved one, young Riaan Mukuve (22) did not know this would be his last.

Mukuve was found dead at Rudhiva village with his body mutilated and floating in the Okavango River, north of Divundu, in the Mukwe constituency.

As horrific as it is, Mukuve’s story was nothing new to the villagers in the area.

Regina Mukuve says this image of her son is one she will never forget.

“His lips were cut off, he had no nose, no eyeballs, no organs, and his private parts were missing,” she says.

She describes her son as an ambitious individual who dreamed of completing his studies at the University of Namibia at Rundu and becoming a teacher, like her.

The young Mukuve was a second-year student at the Rundu campus and the family’s only son.

“Something of this kind has never happened before in my family, and nobody understands the pain I am going through. Therefore I want justice to be served for my son.

“His body was frozen, and I believe that he was refrigerated before they disposed of his body in the river,” Regina says.

According to her, eight people were believed to have been the last to be in contact with Mukuve.

They were fined N$20 000 each by the Hambukushu Traditional Authority for their alleged involvement in the young man’s disappearance and death.

However, the police say they are still investigating his case.

“Until today, I have not received anything from them, and they all claim not to have a hand in his disappearance. Until today there is no closure on my son’s death,” Regina says.

MOURNING … Felix Thikundeko’s father, Basilius Thikundeko, holding his son’s trousers. He says his son loved playing soccer and cultural dance.

21 MISSING IN SIX YEARS

A year later, also in June, at the same village, another mutilated body is discovered.

This time that of Felix Thikundenko (17).

Over the past six years, close to 21 people have disappeared at Mukwe.
Some are discovered after a few days, with their bodies dismembered.
Only a few cases have been reported on by the media due to the relationship the local police allegedly has with some media outlets, as well as the constraints of bureaucracy within the police.

Investigations into some of these cases take ages to complete, leading to the family members of the dead losing hope.

A FATHER’S AGONY

Thikundenko’s mutilated body was discovered in a swamp adjacent to the Okavango River near Rudhiva.

The Diyana Combined School pupil had everyone frantic with his mysterious disappearance.

His uncle, Basilius Mbamba, discovered his body in the same area where Mukuve’s body was discovered a year ago.

Mbamba, who was also part of the search team, said the search for Thikudenko started when he did not return home.

He was allegedly last seen at a bar opposite the family’s house.

The area where his body was found was searched a day before he was discovered.

“I miss him. Whenever I see other boys in the village playing soccer, I yearn to see him, but he is gone,” says Thikudenko’s father, Basilius Thikundenko.

He says his son loved sport.

“He used to play soccer, and he was good with our cultural dance group, he even used to do athletics. My son was really talented,” Basilius says.

He was robbed of his closest son, who always used to help him with house chores, he says.

The natural beauty of Kavango East…. but villagers on the south-eastern banks of the Okavango River in Kavango East mourn the loss of their slain dear ones and live in constant fear.

‘NO FREEDOM’

Residents of Rudhiva and Shadikongoro say they live in constant fear.
They claim to have lost their freedom, fearing one of them will become the next body to be found floating in the Okavango River, butchered.
So far, two people have been arrested and charged with Thikudenko’s death, and a third suspect was recently identified.

They are Steven Dengwe (22), Kandere Kavanga (36) and Thidjukwe Muduva (32).

Dengwe and Kavanga have been charged with murder and obstructing the course of justice for allegedly dumping Thikudenko’s body in the river.
They remained in custody after their first court appearance in the Mukwe Periodic Court in July last year, and their case was postponed to 5 October this year for further police investigations.

Muduva made his first court appearance on 5 October last year and was kept in police custody pending laboratory test results.

However, in the accused latest court appearance on 8 December 2022, they were granted bail of N$6 000 each.

WITHOUT A TRACE

Cecilia Kaveto (40) says her mother left their homestead on 30 June 2022 and never returned.

Alfonsine Kamwanga (76) went missing when she went to the river.

Kaveto, a resident of Korokoko village in the Ndonga Linena constituency, says her mother sometimes leaves the house to visit her brother or to collect mangetti fruit or thatched grass.

She says the day Kamwanga left the house was the last day she saw her.

“When we traced her footprints, it looks like she went until the field towards the road leading to the river, and up to the riverbank,” Kaveto says.

At first, she says they thought her mother had fallen into the stream, but they noticed she had proceeded towards the main river, where her prints disappeared.

“We alerted the police on the same day. They only came three days later with a boat and searched the area, but they did not find anything.

“We have been asking ourselves a lot of questions. If she had been killed or snatched by a crocodile, we would have found a piece of evidence. I still don’t know what happened to my mother,” Kaveto says.

SYNDICATE

Mukwe constituency councillor Damian Maghambayi says although there is no evidence that people are being murdered in ritual killings, people are losing lives in his constituency.

He says the issue has been ongoing, especially in the vicinity of Kapako, Rudhiva and Shadikongoro. Maghambayi says more than 21 people have gone missing in mysterious circumstances.

“It is now so serious that community members wanted to take the law into their own hands,” he says.

Maghambayi says there have been several demonstrations by community members petitioning the government on the killings.

Although there are about three police stations and substations in his constituency, the councillor suggests a robust police presence in the area and the need to open up a substation at Shadikongoro.

Affected families and community members are pointing fingers at the police in the area for not doing enough to bring the culprits to book.

Some claim that police officers in the area have been bribed and that they are part of a syndicate.

Thitjo Dinyando, a community activist in the area, believes the killings are spearheaded by business owners, especially shebeen owners, who recruit people to harvest organs to boost their business.

Dinyando also pointed fingers at police officers at Rundu and those working at Mukwe.

No significant investigations are carried out to bring the culprits to book, he says. The police in the region are not keen to talk about the issue.

They say they do not believe the killings are ritual-related.

“Ritual killings at Mukwe are not a joke, and I don’t want to comment on that, because I don’t want people to panic.

“ . . . unless one has to come to us with clear information to give us evidence to follow up and link it to ritual killings,” says Kavango East crime onvestigations coordinator deputy commissioner Bonifasius Kanyetu.

*This article was produced by The Namibian’s investigative unit. Email us news tips from your secure email: investigations@namibian.com.na

Source: Kavango’s Winter Murders

From Namibia: “Ritual killings: Cry my beloved humankind”

A few days ago my attention was drawn by an Op-Ed article in an online Namibian newspaper, New Era Live. The article was entitled: “Ritual killings: Cry my beloved humankind“. It is a cry for attention, a cry for vigilance, a cry for leadership and for stiffer sanctions for those who are responsible for these heinous crimes, including traditional healers and – too often – relatives of the innocent victims, in many cases young children.

The anonymous author (a staff reporter) starts his or her plea stating “I want to share with you the excruciating pain that stabs my heart every time I read or hear about the senseless loss of life due to ritual or muti killings.”

I was shocked reading this. Is the present situation that bad? How frequent are ritual murrders (‘muti murders’) in Southern Africa?

I monitor relevant events in African countries with particular interest, as this site also demonstrates. Whereas I feel a kind of pride or joy when confronted with readers and/or reporters rejecting the repulsive practices of ritual or muti murders, it also hurts to see a confirmation of the plague that terrorizes too many people in too many African countries.

“One shudders to think about the many muti killings of people, young and old, that are happening almost on a daily basis in Southern Africa in particular, (…)”, the anonymous author continues. 

Also revealing is the following statement:

“A study carried out in South Africa by scholars Randitsheni, Masoga and Madzusi (2017) revealed that “[some] pastors, businessmen, traditional leaders and leaders are involved in ritual murders”.  The three scholars give more details of their research findings in their paper titled “Some perspectives on the impacts of ritual murders in the Vhembe district of South Africa: An interpretive phenomenological approach” which was published in the Journal of Social Sciences (Volume 48, Number 3).  This is not to give an impression that ritual murders occur in South Africa only. Other scholars who have conducted researches in this area have revealed similar results in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Tanzania, Nigeria, Eswatini, Uganda, and Namibia, just to mention a few countries. “

I am flabbergasted. At the same time I am proud of the author and everyone who thinks alike. It strikes me that this cry for justice, for the eradication of this scourge in our contemporary societies, comes from Namibia. Apparently, much more occurs beneath the surface in this Southern African country than one would think at first glance. The ‘New Era’ newspaper which published this op-ed is a leading source of community and national news in Namibia. Its owners and editors are to be commended for their courageous decision to publish this view. May many more newspaper owners, editors and journalists join the war against ritualistic murders in Africa.

Together it will be possible to eradicate this medieval belief in superstition. Nothing is impossible. “You never fail until you stop trying.”
(webmaster FVDK)

“Ritual killings: Cry my beloved humankind”

Published: October 22, 2020
By: New Era Live, Namibia

If you are reading this article, wherever you are, prepare to shed tears. Prepare to travel with me on this emotional journey, as I interrogate the evil that men do, that of ritual killings, which have left people questioning the essence of life, since some people can take it away from you or someone at once, just like that. I want to share with you the excruciating pain that stabs my heart every time I read or hear about the senseless loss of life due to ritual or muti killings. 

The world has turned topsy-turvy, completely upside down, and everyone’s life is at risk, either directly or indirectly. People fear for their lives and the lives of their children and loved ones. Everyone’s life is in danger as there are some immoral people who have taken the law into their hands, and can decide how many more days you are left with alive on this earth. It is horrendous.

The stonehearted murderers can be anyone ranging from, paradoxically, people closest to you, to complete strangers. The love of riches and fame, the eagerness to get rich quickly without working for it, and the love of power and fame have led people to involve themselves in atrocious, inhuman activities. One shudders to think about the many muti killings of people, young and old, that are happening almost on a daily basis in Southern Africa in particular, and elsewhere in the world. Research reveals that ritual killings are so rampant in Africa that some researchers have described ritual murder as a pandemic. The grisly killings of innocent victims, especially children and women, have shocked communities, societies and the whole world. 

Many unsuspecting victims have been lured by people they know and killed for ritual purposes. We have read and heard about small children and teenagers who have been brutally murdered by their close relatives. As you read this article, or as you sit there at home or in a classroom  – wherever you are  – always bear in mind that you may be a candidate for ritual murder. Many victims have lost their lives through the involvement of their close relatives or loved ones. In these cases, it becomes tricky for the law enforcement agents to prevent such murders as relatives and loved ones are supposed to take care of the children, and not to kill them.

The belief that a human being’s body parts or limps bring luck, riches and power to people has fuelled the crime of ritual killing. Corpses have been discovered without heads, private parts and internal organs, suggesting that these are the most sought-after parts to be used in muti or medicinal concoctions.  As the evil men harvest human body parts for their benefits, societies are traumatised, yet it is in these societies that we find the perpetrators of this heinous crime. It is in these societies that most of the killings are secretly planned and executed. The irony is that some respectable members of these communities promote these ritual murders for various reasons. Some of them are leopards clothed in sheep’s skins.  

A study carried out in South Africa by scholars Randitsheni, Masoga and Madzusi (2017) revealed that “[some] pastors, businessmen, traditional leaders and leaders are involved in ritual murders”.  The three scholars give more details of their research findings in their paper titled “Some perspectives on the impacts of ritual murders in the Vhembe district of South Africa: An interpretive phenomenological approach” which was published in the Journal of Social Sciences (Volume 48, Number 3).  This is not to give an impression that ritual murders occur in South Africa only. Other scholars who have conducted researches in this area have revealed similar results in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Botswana, Tanzania, Nigeria, Eswatini, Uganda, and Namibia, just to mention a few countries. As I write, the Zimbabwean community is failing to come to terms with how a man could have allegedly taken part in the planning and ritual killing of his brother’s seven-year-old son. The account of the cold blooded murder of the fateful boy by the co-accused man, in this case, is available on Youtube for those who have the guts to listen to such a chilling narrative of a despicable act. 

 The ubiquity of ritual murders in Africa proves that the crime is a scourge in our contemporary societies. The crime is a cancer that is spreading in our societies at an alarming rate. The belief in supernatural powers and superstition are the driving forces of ritual murders and sacrificial killings in our societies. Traditional healers tell you, for example, that in order for you to be successful in life, you must kill your son or daughter, or someone you love dearly like your wife. Foolishly, some people believe this and they murder their loved ones for nothing. 
 It is also true that the moral fabric of our societies is decaying at a fast rate. The African concept of Ubuntu seems to be melting away fast, leaving a culture of violence in our societies. One result of the loss of Ubuntu is that the sanctity of human life is no longer respected; this is why some people can be hired to kill for money. 

Concerned researchers on ritual murders have gone to the extent of studying ancient civilisations. They have revealed that the bible is replete with sacrificial killings or offerings of human beings. In some religions, sacrificial killings happen today. 
In order to curb ritual murders, families should be vigilant and protect their children. Community leaders and politicians must denounce these killings at gatherings. Stiffer sentences must be imposed on criminals convicted of ritual murders.  Let us teach the love of one another as humans in our homes. Ubuntu teachings should find a place in our homes. Let us be exemplary to our children since psychologists have proved that children learn what they live. Say no to ritual killings and save lives.

Source: Opinion – Ritual killings: Cry my beloved humankind

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