HAVE we by establishing the Veterans Subvention Fund, and everything that goes with it in terms of the Veterans Act of 2008, opened up a Pandora’s box? One cannot but be tempted to ask. Especially in view of the exasperation which this noble move seems to have unleashed among hundreds if not thousands of Namibians, and their dependants queuing for the now, presumed bottomless pit of funds available.
The act of taking care of war veterans is noble, if only in one respect, and strictly with the understanding of taking care of deserving veterans who cannot or are unable to fend for selves through own initiatives due to circumstances beyond their own control.
These vets are unable to take care of themselves due to circumstances and conditions partly visited upon them by their part in the liberation struggle, and which, even in the post-independence era have continued or the legacy entrapped them in a vicious cycle of poverty, squalor and destitution.
Other than that I personally still stand to be convinced about any other principle and consideration of dispensing rewards to those who have participated in the struggle, however one may define and describe.
For participation in the struggle, besides for the fact that many of us may have been compelled by circumstances, subjective and objective, to partake in the war of liberation, ultimately such participation was an individual and personal moral and conscious decision that all of us took first and foremost before jumping on the bandwagon as some may have done.
Thus, besides for the unbearable conditions of apartheid colonialism that may have forced and compelled some if not many or most of us to become part of the war of liberation, we consciously and voluntarily chose to become part of the war of liberation. Because the liberation movement did not belong to any singular individual but was a mission of the whole country, in which all believing in the noble principles of freedom, justice and equality, naturally, could not otherwise but and should have taken part in without any expectations for material reward, save for the expectation that the post-independence era would usher in the necessary conditions whereby all would have the freedom to prosper materially, and otherwise.
Indeed come 21 March,1990, the road to such prosperity had been paved with the lowering of the Apartheid South African regime’s flag, and the hoisting of Namibia’s own flag. The pertinent question 23 years after independence, is not whether those defined, seen, perceived and recognised as war veterans, deserve any material reward or not. This is because the highest reward for their conscious and moral decision in terms of contributing to the war of liberation has been realised.
Such compensation, indirect and intangible as it may seem, is the freedom that all the citizens, and guests and visitors alike, today enjoy within the territorial boundary and integrity of the polity and Nation-State called Namibia. In this territory everyone has equal rights and freedoms.
This simply means that it is illegal for the State, or anyone else for that matter, to discriminate against you for reasons such as your racial or national origin; your ethnic group, tribe or clan, the colour of your skin; your sex (or sexual orientation); your religion; your opinions and political beliefs, etc.
In fact more than anything it was the belief in such principles that motivated and drove most of us to that consciousness of liberation and the attendant norms and values of freedom, liberty and justices, as you would have it.
But one must underline that they are not intrinsic in themselves, but means towards the pursuit of happiness, which foremost, is material.
As Maslov would have it there is a hierarchy of needs between psychological/sociological needs and physical and/or material needs. Needless to say, psychological and sociological needs and/or wants presupposes the pursuit of other needs and wants, and vice versa, with the material needs paramount. This is why noble democratic principles or freedoms and rights cannot be an end in themselves but a means to an end, this end being the satisfaction of material/physical needs and/or wants. And this is where, foremost, the economic rights come in.
Thus the Veterans Fund cannot in any way be a substitute for the first calling of the State, in conjunction with the citizenry, that is the protection and the giving of meaning to the various rights and freedom, foremost among them ones facilitating a decent livelihood for its citizens, and all those finding themselves within its territory. And as much the Veterans Act cannot and should not be expected to be everything to all people.
Hence, the polemical question if we may not have opened a Pandora’s box with this Act. More so, given the fact that we have barely so far provided for all those who can and may qualify as veterans under the Act.
The most deserving at least in my eyes while those who so far seem to have been upfront in this queue are those who are less deserving, our bigwigs, and you know whom I am referring to.
The Act defines a veteran as any person who: (a) was a member of the liberation forces;
b) consistently and persistently participated or engaged in any political, diplomatic or underground activity in furtherance of the liberation struggle; or,
c) owing to his or her participation in the liberation struggle was convicted, whether in Namibia or elsewhere, of any offence closely connected to the struggle and sentenced to imprisonment.
Now in view of the broad base of the liberation struggle as it was, who cannot be defined as a veteran? And if the case may be can we accommodate every possible veteran to a sustainable level?
And at what discretion can we exclude others? Because currently I am sure there are hundreds of veterans who have been shown the door, or may be shown the door on the discretion of the gatekeepers in this regard. Are we saying there are some veterans more deserving than others? Who are they?
And on what basis if we all own the liberation struggle, more on the basis of our own conscious and not in expectations of material rewards at one point or the other? We may take it for granted but out there are hordes of veterans who in their own right, from school into their professional lives and from cradle to grave if you wish, internally made their contributions in their own humble but equally constructive and valuable manner. Teachers, nurses, labourers, you name them, who never left the country, but were an integral part of the war of liberation. Yet unfortunately they are made to fall outside the discretionary remit of those entrusted with the process of registering veterans, and thus shall never qualify as veterans, which makes the whole process a travesty of liberation justice!
By Kae Matundu-Tjiparuro