Staff Reporter
THE Speaker of the National Assembly, Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, has called for reforms to the legal system and the processes through which survivors of gender-based violence (GBV) seek redress, emphasising that these procedures should not re-traumatise survivors.
“The legal system must also be examined honestly. The processes through which survivors of gender-based violence are required to seek redress — often public, often protracted and often re-traumatising — must be reformed. We must ask what it would take to make the system genuinely safe for those who approach it and consequential for those who appear before it. The courts, the police and the social services are not peripheral to the question of gender-based violence; they are central. This Caucus has a direct responsibility to assess their adequacy and to advocate for what is needed,” she said.
Kuugongelwa-Amadhila made these remarks at the Meeting of the Parliamentary Women’s Caucus, which recently took place in Swakopmund, where she emphasised that GBV remains one of the most serious human rights challenges in the country and the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region.
“The statistics are not abstract. They represent lived experiences — women and children who are failed daily by systems that were designed to protect them. We cannot approach this issue with generalities. We need concrete targets, informed by evidence on what drives violence, and we need accountability for reaching those targets. The causes of gender-based violence are well documented and interconnected. Poverty, and the economic dependence it produces, traps women in circumstances of vulnerability and diminishes their capacity to exit dangerous situations. Mental health challenges, when unaddressed, contribute to patterns of violence that are then absorbed into families and communities,” she said.
Kuugongelwa-Amadhila further pointed out that limited capacity within law enforcement and social work services often prevents early intervention, allowing situations to escalate. She added that certain cultural and traditional norms continue to undervalue the safety and autonomy of women and shape the attitudes of boys from a young age in ways that must be confronted and deliberately changed.
“We must speak directly about the socialisation of men and boys. Masculinity constructs that demand dominance, discourage emotional expression and equate silence with strength are not a private matter; they are a public health concern. When men are taught that showing vulnerability is a weakness, those suppressed experiences do not disappear — they find other expressions, often destructive ones. The work of transforming these norms must be integrated into our national programmes, our education systems, and the work of traditional and religious leaders, civil society and government, in genuine, structured collaboration,” the Speaker said.
