BIG Pilot Project - Assessment Report - BIG Coalition Namibia

2.7 Crime“The criminal activities are mostly poaching, assaultand housebreakings. Poaching is the most commonone. Poverty and unemployment are the reasonsfor these criminal activities. Otjivero is a tiny placeand there is no source of income there. Most peoplehunt or poach just for survival… Poverty and unemploymentlead to all the other conditions like crimes,alcohol abuse, mushrooming of shebeens. As youcan see, there are no proper houses in the camp.People live in shacks made up of drums or piecesof tents.There are no jobs and people start some small businessto make a living. Running a shebeen is normallythe only way to make some money. However,there is also the Namwater dam and some communitymembers catch some fish there that theysell. Some people look for jobs in the farms but thelocal farmers don’t want people from the Otjiverocamp because they always accuse them of poachingon their farms.”This problem was confirmed by the clinic’s nurse:“There are no jobs, no food or any activities for theyouth. They have to go hunting or stealing atnearby farms to sustain themselves. When lookingfor jobs at nearby farms, they don’t get jobs because[the farmers think they are] thieves. It seemsthat all the farms surrounding Otjivero belong to thesame relatives. They are hostile to the Otjivero communityand have decided not to give anybody fromOtjivero employment.”The Big Coalition hoped that the introduction of theBIG would reduce economic crime as people wereprovided with a minimum standard of living. This, indeed,has taken place.According to official information provided by the Omitarapolice station, 54 crimes were reported between 15January 2008 (when the BIG was introduced) to end ofOctober 2008 while during the same period a year earli-Reportedcrimes tothe local policestationwere 36,5%lower in the10 monthsafter theBIG was introducedthan duringthe sameperiod thepreviousyear. Themost dramaticdropin crime wasin illegalhunting andtrespassing.45