![[NAMIBIA] SWAPO leader Hifikepunye Pohamba.](https://assets.thenewhumanitarian.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_large_2x/public/images/200411129.jpg.webp?itok=PbTk8ez- "President-elect Hifikepunye Pohamba")
Sixteen years after Namibia's liberation war, the government is to provide a handful of veterans with housing, but is promising more.
The move is unlikely to appease the National Committee on the Welfare of ex-Combatants - a group claiming to represent thousands of veterans of the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), the former armed wing of the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) - which presented their demands to President Hifikepunye Pohamba in June.
On 26 August, two days before the 40th anniversary of the start of Plan's armed struggle, information minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah announced that Cabinet had approved N$5.8 million (US$828,500) for building 45 houses and renovating two existing ones, and a further N$1.5 million (US$215,000) to equip the houses with solar power. Another N$2 million (US$286,000) was allocated for the construction of housing for ex-fighters over the next five years.
Former Namibian political prisoners held on Robben Island by South Africa’s apartheid regime are among the beneficiaries.
The veterans are demanding, among other things, a lump-sum payment of N$500,000 (US$71,500) for each ex-combatant, a monthly pension of N$8,000 (US$1,150), free medical services, education for themselves and their children, and equity in the mining and fishing industries. Alex Kamwi, a spokesman for the committee, told Irin: "We are still waiting for a response."
The standoff between the government and the war veterans has echoes of Zimbabwe. Chenjerai Hitler Hunzvi, a representative of those liberation war fighters, pressured President Robert Mugabe for compensation, which led to financial concessions, farm invasions and the subsequent meltdown of the economy.
In a televised speech earlier this month, Pohamba urged war veterans to be patient. "Since Independence in 1990, those who were 55 years or older and unemployed were enrolled with the War Veterans Trust Fund for a monthly social grant of N$500 (US$71), in addition to their monthly pensions [of US$52]," he said.
"All ex-PLAN fighters who are younger than 55 and are disabled also receive N$500 (US$71) monthly from the Trust [since 1990]." The government had given 8,777 former PLAN fighters jobs in 1999, and others were given income-generating opportunities in agricultural projects, construction and small enterprises under the National Development Corporation.
Phil ya Nangoloh, a human rights activist, said this was only after hundreds of veterans had come from the rural areas a few months ahead of national elections, and camped for days in the parliamentary gardens, demanding jobs.
Kamwi rejected the government housing scheme as hijacking proposals already presented to SWAPO. "Our chairperson, Ms Ruusa Malulu, had a meeting with former President Sam Nujoma, who [was] still ... president of SWAPO in February last year. Nujoma suggested we submit written proposals to the party headquarters, which we did the same month." After this meeting with Nujoma it was decided to form an association, "similar to the one in Zimbabwe".
Nujoma, Namibia's founding president, has publicly warned SWAPO members to be wary of the war veterans committee.
"We don't know who they are," he said at party rally last month, and reportedly made veiled threats against Malulu and Lapaka Ueyulu, who interviewed her on state national radio.
The National Human Rights Society quoted Nujoma as saying, "Those who are demanding compensation are bandits ... they must remember that we still have guns, and those of you who side with them, we will shoot you." Nujoma was further quoted by the society as saying at the rally that "two tiny women are sowing confusion - we must eradicate them."
"We reported this to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, and its office reacted promptly and sent a letter to the Namibian government requesting it to investigate the threats and send a report to Geneva," ya Nangoloh, executive director of the rights society, told IRIN.
In a letter to Namibia's foreign affairs ministry, Ambeyi Ligabo, UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression, has requested a speedy response to Nujoma's reported remarks and "that your government adopts effective measures to prevent the recurrence of these acts."
The veterans are planning further protests.
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The move is unlikely to appease the National Committee on the Welfare of ex-Combatants - a group claiming to represent thousands of veterans of the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), the former armed wing of the South West Africa People’s Organisation (SWAPO) - which presented their demands to President Hifikepunye Pohamba in June.
On 26 August, two days before the 40th anniversary of the start of Plan's armed struggle, information minister Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah announced that Cabinet had approved N$5.8 million (US$828,500) for building 45 houses and renovating two existing ones, and a further N$1.5 million (US$215,000) to equip the houses with solar power. Another N$2 million (US$286,000) was allocated for the construction of housing for ex-fighters over the next five years.
Former Namibian political prisoners held on Robben Island by South Africa’s apartheid regime are among the beneficiaries.
The veterans are demanding, among other things, a lump-sum payment of N$500,000 (US$71,500) for each ex-combatant, a monthly pension of N$8,000 (US$1,150), free medical services, education for themselves and their children, and equity in the mining and fishing industries. Alex Kamwi, a spokesman for the committee, told Irin: "We are still waiting for a response."
The standoff between the government and the war veterans has echoes of Zimbabwe. Chenjerai Hitler Hunzvi, a representative of those liberation war fighters, pressured President Robert Mugabe for compensation, which led to financial concessions, farm invasions and the subsequent meltdown of the economy.
In a televised speech earlier this month, Pohamba urged war veterans to be patient. "Since Independence in 1990, those who were 55 years or older and unemployed were enrolled with the War Veterans Trust Fund for a monthly social grant of N$500 (US$71), in addition to their monthly pensions [of US$52]," he said.
"All ex-PLAN fighters who are younger than 55 and are disabled also receive N$500 (US$71) monthly from the Trust [since 1990]." The government had given 8,777 former PLAN fighters jobs in 1999, and others were given income-generating opportunities in agricultural projects, construction and small enterprises under the National Development Corporation.
Phil ya Nangoloh, a human rights activist, said this was only after hundreds of veterans had come from the rural areas a few months ahead of national elections, and camped for days in the parliamentary gardens, demanding jobs.
Kamwi rejected the government housing scheme as hijacking proposals already presented to SWAPO. "Our chairperson, Ms Ruusa Malulu, had a meeting with former President Sam Nujoma, who [was] still ... president of SWAPO in February last year. Nujoma suggested we submit written proposals to the party headquarters, which we did the same month." After this meeting with Nujoma it was decided to form an association, "similar to the one in Zimbabwe".
Nujoma, Namibia's founding president, has publicly warned SWAPO members to be wary of the war veterans committee.
"We don't know who they are," he said at party rally last month, and reportedly made veiled threats against Malulu and Lapaka Ueyulu, who interviewed her on state national radio.
The National Human Rights Society quoted Nujoma as saying, "Those who are demanding compensation are bandits ... they must remember that we still have guns, and those of you who side with them, we will shoot you." Nujoma was further quoted by the society as saying at the rally that "two tiny women are sowing confusion - we must eradicate them."
"We reported this to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, and its office reacted promptly and sent a letter to the Namibian government requesting it to investigate the threats and send a report to Geneva," ya Nangoloh, executive director of the rights society, told IRIN.
In a letter to Namibia's foreign affairs ministry, Ambeyi Ligabo, UN special rapporteur on freedom of expression, has requested a speedy response to Nujoma's reported remarks and "that your government adopts effective measures to prevent the recurrence of these acts."
The veterans are planning further protests.
bw/go/he
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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