Rudolf Gaiseb
The Minister of Defence and Veterans Affairs, Frans Kapofi, said the government will never scrap Heroes’ Day from the Namibian calendar.
He made this remark during an engagement with war veterans and children of the liberation struggle last week, after the groups delivered their petition of demands to him in Windhoek on 13 June 2024.
He emphasised that the commemoration of Heroes’ Day is to honour the sacrifices made by the fallen heroes and heroines of the country.
“Therefore, these sacrifices cannot be equated to any amount of money. The commemoration is to honour those whose blood waters our freedom, not living veterans,” he said.
The group demands that future funds allocated to Heroes’ Day commemorations be redirected to the veterans and the children of the liberation struggle as “a way of appreciating the heroes who sacrificed their lives for the country.”
“The people who died would be dismayed if they saw how their children are suffering without blankets and food while living in tents and shacks. We want these ‘children’ to be accommodated and considered as veterans,” said the group’s deputy spokesperson, Saraphina Reuben.
“When we volunteered and left this country [and went into exile], we sacrificed our education and youth for one common purpose: to be trained and come back to fight for this nation. We did not want our nation to be taken over by the enemy. We wanted to fight and reclaim our land, just like the children of Israel. We did not fight an evil war; we fought a righteous war because the enemy came to take our land, and we protected our land and resources,” he stated.
The group also raised concerns over the increasing incidents of suicide, claiming that war veterans and their children are languishing in poverty, causing them distress. Among other demands in the petition, the veterans request housing, medical aid and the reintroduction of education assistance programmes for veterans and their children.
In response to protesters’ grievances about the increase in suicide incidents among veterans, Kapofi maintained that the State cannot meet all the needs of veterans, and is unable to grant them all benefits due to scarce resources.
He also stated that all Namibian students in need of funding for their studies should apply through the Namibia Students Financial Assistance Fund. “The Cabinet decision to pay each veteran N$400 000 is not known to the ministry. A decision was taken by Cabinet to recognise former Plan combatants, who were literally in the line of fire. Hence the decision to introduce the improvement grant, which is meant to cater for such brave individuals, in addition to the monthly grant of N$2200. The Veterans Act is very clear in its current form. The fact remains that you cannot be considered veterans by virtue of being children of veterans of the national liberation struggle, as the age criteria disqualifies you as such,” said Kapofi.
N$12 billion has been spent on veterans since 2008.
The group took to the streets, demanding veteran benefits. When they handed over their petition at Windhoek’s Ausspannplatz, protesters told Kapofi that his ministry and government waste money on Heroes’ Day commemorations, begging the minister to redirect such funds to the poverty-stricken members of the liberation struggle.
Kapofi, however, told the protesters that the defence ministry wishes to distribute all outstanding cash payments in relation to individual veteran projects (IVPs) at once.
He said the government spent over N$12 million in the past 16 years on monthly allowances, veterans projects, funerals, educational grants, medical assistance, land resettlement benefits, veterans housing and the erection of tombstones for veterans. At least N$8.2 million was spent solely on 21 819 veterans who benefited from the grant from 2008 until June this year.
The grant was stopped in 2016, but Kapofi, said the monthly grant of N$2 200 will resume soon. As for the projects, his ministry will continue to make payouts for projects by applying the first in, first out (FIFO) approach. Special consideration is given to sick, frail and elderly veterans who are 90 years of age and older.
“All other outstanding IVPs will be paid out in accordance with the FIFO principle, as well as the allocated budget towards IVP cash payments,” he said.