EDITORIAL: Are sinners to carry their cross forever?
A necessary debate - around the conferment of an official funeral on former minister Katrina Hanse-Himarwa - is currently raging. The debate is mainly questioning the wisdom of honouring the ex-minister following her corruption conviction in 2019.
A key question is whether convicts must carry the burden of their sins to the grave, or whether society must find it in its collective heart to grant them a second bite at the cherry once they have paid for their crimes in full. The same debate surfaced in 2022 after late president Hage Geingob appointed Hanse-Himarwa to the Swapo politburo, three years after her conviction.
Has Swapo completely run out of people with credibility that those freshly convicted are appointed into key structures of the party, some asked at the time, and legitimately so.
Crime differs in size. Some consider Hanse-Himarwa’s removal of people from a housing list and replacing them with her own relatives as, at best, a misdemeanour. But others find the crime of corruption, no matter the scale, utterly abhorrent and treasonous – especially when committed by a leader at that level.
Others would question whether the ex-minister’s criminal action warrants wiping away all her life achievements as a leader into obscurity and nothingness. In other words, can a hero – assuming Hanse-Himarwa was considered one – turn into a complete villain, or do they retain remnants of their reputation that they can be rewarded for?
And, perhaps most importantly, how will government deal with future hero-to-villain situations, now that a precedent has been set? These are legitimate national questions.
A key question is whether convicts must carry the burden of their sins to the grave, or whether society must find it in its collective heart to grant them a second bite at the cherry once they have paid for their crimes in full. The same debate surfaced in 2022 after late president Hage Geingob appointed Hanse-Himarwa to the Swapo politburo, three years after her conviction.
Has Swapo completely run out of people with credibility that those freshly convicted are appointed into key structures of the party, some asked at the time, and legitimately so.
Crime differs in size. Some consider Hanse-Himarwa’s removal of people from a housing list and replacing them with her own relatives as, at best, a misdemeanour. But others find the crime of corruption, no matter the scale, utterly abhorrent and treasonous – especially when committed by a leader at that level.
Others would question whether the ex-minister’s criminal action warrants wiping away all her life achievements as a leader into obscurity and nothingness. In other words, can a hero – assuming Hanse-Himarwa was considered one – turn into a complete villain, or do they retain remnants of their reputation that they can be rewarded for?
And, perhaps most importantly, how will government deal with future hero-to-villain situations, now that a precedent has been set? These are legitimate national questions.
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