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Editorial

EDITORIAL: Poverty driving Namibians to their grave

In recent years, column inches of this editorial have been occupied by whining and blabbering about inequality in Namibia, not only as observed by global development agencies but particularly as felt on the ground by our people.

In truth, we don't need to be reminded by perfumed experts in New York or Brussels about inequality in our country, when this is the reality that meets the eye the moment we set foot outside our homes.

Even those living in the leafy suburbs of Windhoek, supposedly away from the downtrodden of the city, are greeted to visuals of poverty in the form of people, including children, savaging rotten food in their waste bins.

Yesterday, Namibian Sun reported about six men, their partners and children who have been living at a dumpsite in Tsumeb, some since 2009. These kinds of stories have become so common in Namibia – a cliché of uninteresting proportions.

The situation is so much in our faces that we have become blinded by the tragic side of it. Having once raised eyebrows, it has now lost its novelty.

The tragedy of poverty is so tragic that in 2020, a destitute mother committed suicide in a Rundu jail, where she was confined because she could not afford a N$3 000 fine for child neglect. She was convicted of having neglected her newborn baby, whose upkeep she could not guarantee. When the fine was set at N$3 000, she told the court that she only had N$20 to her name.

The same woman had just been discharged from hospital after recovering from injuries sustained from another failed suicide attempt, emanating from fighting over a government food donation.

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Namibian Sun 2024-11-21

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