They filled the house with laughter – Usakos mother mourns

… Six killed in family massacre

Anestantia Naruses remembers her two children, six-year-old Ibra and three-year-old Emi Naruses, along with their cousins, filling the home with laughter and noise.

Now, it’s all quiet.

No lullabies.

No songs learned at school.

UNTHINKABLE

In the early hours of Saturday, an 18 year-old allegedly murdered six family members at Usakos’ Hakhaseb informal settlement.

According to chief inspector Ileni Shapumba, Namibian Police spokesperson for the Erongo region, the teenager allegedly attacked his family members with weapons between 04h00 and 06h30, before setting the family home on fire. The victims have been identified as Elisabeth Naruses (90), Fenny Naruses (18), Ibra (6), Raunisha Boer (6), and three-year-olds Rachel Boer and Emi.

Anestantia recalls the phone call that shattered her world, informing her that she lost not only her two children, but also her grandmother, sister and two nieces. Her children no longer run around the yard, playing games and chasing each other.

“Ibra was very talkative, but Emi was more selective about who she spoke to. All children are naughty at that age. When I got home, they would run to me and greet me with hugs. But now, it’s all quiet,” she says.

She says no one in the family knows exactly what happened in the early hours of Saturday.

“We weren’t home. Only the police and investigators know what really took place. We don’t know the details, we weren’t allowed to say anything,” she says.

LEGACY LOST

Family spokesperson Geraldine Naruses, Anestantia’s sister, says the pain is still fresh for the family.

She mourns the loss of the young girls who were meant to carry on the family’s legacy.

Eighteen-year-old Fenny had dreams of working at the Namibian Institute of Mining and Technology (Nimt) to support her grandmother, who raised her after her own mother passed away.

“Fenny always said she was going to change our family’s life. She planned to go to Nimt, study industrial design, and take care of all of us,” she says.

She remembers waking up at Swakopmund unaware that tragedy had struck back home on Saturday morning.

“My phone was off. When I turned it on, there was a message from my daughter asking me to call her. I called, and she told me what had happened, but I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t want to believe it,” she says.

Geraldine still struggles to understand how a fire could destroy so much and says she is also filled with anger not just grief.

“They told me it was an electrical fire. I asked, ‘how? They weren’t using candles. Why? How did it happen?’ There are so many questions,” she says, her voice filled with pain.

“When I arrived at the house, there was no one in the kitchen. There used to always be someone there, cooking, talking, just being there. Now, there’s no one. I lost my entire family … I lost my grandmother and my sisters lost all their children in one night,” she says.

THE FIRE BRIGADE

Social activist Renciah Gaes says the crime has left the entire community in shock.

Over the weekend, she also raised concerns about the town’s dysfunctional fire brigade, saying their inaction may have cost lives.

“If the fire truck had been working, maybe the family could have been saved. The victims weren’t killed before the fire was set, maybe one or two could have survived if help had arrived sooner,” she said.

Gaes said the town’s fire truck has been out of order for more than five years and there are no trained firefighters stationed at the fire station, claiming that Usakos’ residents pay around N$10 monthly for a service that does not exist.

“This is one of the complaints the community raised last year already,” she said.