Christof Maletsky
21 April 2008
Windhoek — NEW Safety and Security Minister Nickey Iyambo has expressed concern about the high crime rate and overcrowded Police cells in the country.
Motivating his Ministry's budget in the National Assembly, Iyambo said crime had gone up by 3,8 per cent over the last financial year.
"This is a worrisome situation," he said, adding that a very high 73 364 people had become victims of crime.
The most common crime was theft, while housebreaking remained the most common serious crime in the country.
Armed robbery cases went up by 17,3 per cent, Iyambo said.
The Minister said the Police had dealt with 10 high-profile commercial cases involving N$20 million and arrested 20 suspects.
Iyambo said Police operations were hampered by a lack of money.
Last year the plan was to recruit 1 000 cadets but the Ministry was unable because of a shortage of money.
For this financial year, he said, the Ministry will only be able to train 380 Police students.
"Furthermore, members of the Namibian Police are faced with severe problems of both housing and office accommodation," the Minister said.
He said criminals and organised-crime syndicates were constantly changing the ways they operated and there was a need for continuous improvements in training.
The Ministry wants N$744 million for combating crime in a budget of N$1,2 billion, while N$159 million will go towards the protection of national leaders and other dignitaries (VIPs).
Around N$305 million will be used for border control, as the Ministry guards national borders and provides protection to strategic public institutions.
During the discussion of the budget on Friday, all those who contributed agreed that the Police were under-funded.
Tsudao Gurirab of the Congress of Democrats said they were concerned about housing conditions for Police officers and the conditions of prison cells.
"Combating of crime is the core function of the Police.
However, around 1 700 posts are vacant from a structure of 6 385.
The VIP [protection] division is doing a good job but so are the other Police officers.
However, only the VIP division gets 100 per cent funding," he said.
Gurirab said two thirds of positions in the combating of crime division were vacant.
Gurirab also campaigned for Special Field Force members, saying the Ministry needed to come up with structure for their upward mobility.
"We also need to look into their accommodation facilities. It is really deplorable. Most of them live in informal settlements," Gurirab said.
Finance Deputy Minister Tjekero Tweya said some VIP drivers had been Constables for the last 18 years - something that was unacceptable.
Tweya said overall staff development in the Ministry needed a serious re-look, with specialised training for areas such as forensic and money laundering a must.
"It is sometimes very embarrassing when cases are thrown out of court due to poor investigations.
Prisons are full but sometimes justice is not served due to poor investigations," he said.
Minister Iyambo agreed with most concerns raised and suggested that he would not do them justice by answering straight away.
Iyambo proposed that the discussions on the specific budget and also the annual Police report be referred to a special Parliamentary committee for discussion. The proposal was approved.
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