WINDHOEK – Some veterans of the liberation struggle taking part in government’s counselling programme are not willing to be counselled by young social workers, while some ditch the programme halfway, the Ministry of Veterans Affairs has revealed.
During the 2013/2014 financial year, Treasury allocated N$25 million to the ministry to provide counselling services to war veterans – an idea mooted for years by those who were on the battlefield and felt they needed to be properly rehabilitated psychologically.
The ministry yesterday said the programme is well underway and cited the lack of co-operation from some veterans as one of its greatest challenges.
“Counselling is complicated and costly and the willingness of those affected to come forward is also a challenge,” said the ministry’s senior public relations officer, Edson Haufiku.
“Especially ex-PLAN combatants do not want to be counselled by younger social workers but by somebody with military experience, whom they feel understands them better.”
Haufiku also indicated that some veterans ditch the programme halfway through the process.
He could, however, not provide the exact number of veterans counselled because “some veterans start the counselling process only to withdraw halfway through the programme, while others who have state or private medical aid opt to take that route”.
“Some of the problems encountered are that some veterans reside far distances from the specialists, which the ministry has noted,” said Haufiku, adding that the government is currently working on how best to assist in getting these veterans receive help from specialists.
The ministry makes use of specialists in instances where social workers cannot render the appropriate services to veterans with major problems.
Haufiku also stated that there exists no formal agreement between the veterans’ ministry and the consultants/specialists but a gentlemen’s agreement exists, where specialists assist with the counselling and bill the ministry.
“All consultants/specialists working under the counselling programme are local Namibian organisations,” he said.
When asked for how long the programme will run, the ministry said: “As long as we have veterans in Namibia, we will have this programme. Counselling’s is not only given to the veterans, but also to their family members and their immediate communities.”
Last year during an interview with New Era, the ministry’s Permanent Secretary, Hopelong Ipinge said the ministry at the time had registered and approved 26 124 people as war veterans and each of them received a lump sum of N$50 000.
Some of the war veterans also received houses built by the State, while their offspring are beneficiaries of educational grants for skills development.