Minister of Gender and Child Welfare Emma Kantema said Namibia's Child Care and Protection Act now allows a mother in crisis to safely abandon her newborn at designated places like police stations, hospitals or schools without facing criminal charges, provided strict conditions are met.
Dr. Kantema, in an interview with NBC News at Ondangwa, urged women to consider safe options for abandoning their newborns to avoid prosecution or arrest. This call to action follows the distressing case of a 24-year-old woman who attempted to end her children's lives by throwing them into a water pond at Omutundungu village.
The shift is facilitated by Section 227 of the 2015 Act, which marks a departure from the longstanding practice of prosecuting women for the act of baby dumping. This term refers to the abandonment of infants in places such as riverbeds, pit latrines, or refuse sites, where many tragically lost their lives.
For decades, women who abandoned babies risked charges ranging from concealment of birth to attempted murder or murder.
Kantema said lawmakers recognised that the punishment wasn't saving lives.
Under Section 227, a parent can leave a child at an approved safe place if two conditions are met, which are that the child is left in the physical presence of another person and shows no signs of harm or abuse.
The person who relinquishes the child can reclaim them within 60 days by providing identifying details not made public, and DNA tests can be used if there is doubt.
"The act that I mentioned we oversee provides for children who need protection services, and those are the steps we have started to implement. As you heard, the twins are now in the protection of their father together with the paternal grandmother, but there is also a family that indicated they want to take over and assist, and this family is from the Ohangwena Region."
Should the discussions yield positive results, the 9-month-old twins will be placed under kinship care, meaning a family member of theirs will take over the guardianship role.
Kantema urged mothers to seek help and the options of safe abandonment of the burden that might come with motherhood, and urged fathers to play their part.
"I am therefore urging fathers to please make sure they have a responsibility; the moment you have a child, it's not the responsibility of the mother alone, and it's not only financial means because they think it's a debit order going off. A child has a right to care, and you spend time with the children."
Research carried out by the ministry indicates that mothers resort to unsafe abandonment due to paternity denial, poverty, unemployment, and a lack of awareness, among others.
Minister Kantema urged mothers in distress situations to call these toll-free numbers, 116 and 110111, to get the necessary support.