Rest In Peace Magdalena - by Toivo Ndjebela
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On Tuesday afternoon, I heard my usually calm boss, Rajah, telling my colleague Alvine to ‘quickly submit that story’. I did not bother to find out what the said story was about, probably because I was pre-occupied with investigating the GIPF saga that saw some Namibians eating more than the rest of us from the controversial DCP loans.
Stressed and exhausted, I stopped by a pub to take a ‘cold one’ before heading home to watch Denzel Washington’s American Gangster for the umpteenth time.
While ‘downloading’ a glass of a combined malted barley, hops and water, we tuned on NBC’s 8 o’clock news and boy, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and hearing.
It was a report about the horrendous rape and murder of teenager Magdalena Stoffels, a 17-year-old Grade 11 learner at Dawid Bezuidenhout High School.
An innocent young soul, en route to fulfil the dreams her parents envisioned for her, lost her life through a senseless and severely ungodly fashion that sent shockwaves down the spines of newspaper rea-ders, radio listeners and TV viewers.
Magdalena’s murder brings back the debate of whether it is time that Namibia re-introduces the death penalty, which so far is working perfectly well in some of the major western democracies, such as the USA. This question could be seen on the faces of demonstrators who bayed for the blood of the man suspected to be behind the gruesome killing of a girl described as ‘bright’ by those who knew her.
Not long ago, I became a father to a cute girl named Brooklyn, whom I adore and love so much in the same fashion that Magdalena’s family loved their daughter.
As a young father, I am trying to give Brooklyn, my only child, the best upbringing she deserves and the best quality education I can afford. But I would skin someone’s son alive if any clown gets near my daughter brandishing a murder weapon under the guise of love. Violence does not exist in my acts, but what human being would contain their emotions when things like murder and rape rear their ugly heads in their families?
It is certainly not to score cheap political points that adversaries, Swapo and RDP, have both condemned the rape and killing of the young learner and I would be shell-shocked if pronouncements by the two political giants were merely to impress the electorate.
In my opinion, Windhoek is making steady progress in becoming one of the least safe cities on the continent and someone out there has to help us out.
I am sincere in my belief that it is about time we introduce active community policing. In parts of South Africa, the country topping African crime charts at the moment, they have similar practices and I think it is working.
My suggestion is that each community should register a leader of a group of serious men and women who want to participate in community policing, and such people should get a commission for each arrest made.
They would then arrest criminals and, without harming them, call the police to the scene to make the formal arrest.
That way, we are not only mitigating crime in our society and making Namibia a safe place to live, but would also provide much-needed income to unemployed members of society.
All eyes are now on the judiciary to ensure that justice is done in the late Magdalena’s murder and rape case, because members of the society, as seen this week, may take the law into their own hands.
To the Stoffels family, may the spirit of God, the Almighty, sweep across your hearts during these trying times. Namibia is keeping you in prayers as we ask Magdalena’s soul to rest in peace.
Eewa!
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Stressed and exhausted, I stopped by a pub to take a ‘cold one’ before heading home to watch Denzel Washington’s American Gangster for the umpteenth time.
While ‘downloading’ a glass of a combined malted barley, hops and water, we tuned on NBC’s 8 o’clock news and boy, I couldn’t believe what I was seeing and hearing.
It was a report about the horrendous rape and murder of teenager Magdalena Stoffels, a 17-year-old Grade 11 learner at Dawid Bezuidenhout High School.
An innocent young soul, en route to fulfil the dreams her parents envisioned for her, lost her life through a senseless and severely ungodly fashion that sent shockwaves down the spines of newspaper rea-ders, radio listeners and TV viewers.
Magdalena’s murder brings back the debate of whether it is time that Namibia re-introduces the death penalty, which so far is working perfectly well in some of the major western democracies, such as the USA. This question could be seen on the faces of demonstrators who bayed for the blood of the man suspected to be behind the gruesome killing of a girl described as ‘bright’ by those who knew her.
Not long ago, I became a father to a cute girl named Brooklyn, whom I adore and love so much in the same fashion that Magdalena’s family loved their daughter.
As a young father, I am trying to give Brooklyn, my only child, the best upbringing she deserves and the best quality education I can afford. But I would skin someone’s son alive if any clown gets near my daughter brandishing a murder weapon under the guise of love. Violence does not exist in my acts, but what human being would contain their emotions when things like murder and rape rear their ugly heads in their families?
It is certainly not to score cheap political points that adversaries, Swapo and RDP, have both condemned the rape and killing of the young learner and I would be shell-shocked if pronouncements by the two political giants were merely to impress the electorate.
In my opinion, Windhoek is making steady progress in becoming one of the least safe cities on the continent and someone out there has to help us out.
I am sincere in my belief that it is about time we introduce active community policing. In parts of South Africa, the country topping African crime charts at the moment, they have similar practices and I think it is working.
My suggestion is that each community should register a leader of a group of serious men and women who want to participate in community policing, and such people should get a commission for each arrest made.
They would then arrest criminals and, without harming them, call the police to the scene to make the formal arrest.
That way, we are not only mitigating crime in our society and making Namibia a safe place to live, but would also provide much-needed income to unemployed members of society.
All eyes are now on the judiciary to ensure that justice is done in the late Magdalena’s murder and rape case, because members of the society, as seen this week, may take the law into their own hands.
To the Stoffels family, may the spirit of God, the Almighty, sweep across your hearts during these trying times. Namibia is keeping you in prayers as we ask Magdalena’s soul to rest in peace.
Eewa!
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