RUNDU - National Patriotic Front of Namibia (NPF) on Friday launched its election campaign in Rundu, saying they will mobilise former South West Africa Territorial Force (SWATF) members to vote for the party.
NPF will contest the National Assembly election later this month.
“Our cry to be recognised as war veterans has not been heard because we are crying from outside parliament; we have been ignored all these years since after independence, but if our party will be in parliament, things will turn out differently,” expressed the NPF regional mobiliser for the two Kavango regions, Johannes Kushonya. The NPF, which took part in the 1989 elections has not been active since the early to the mid-90s, but it has been brought back to life after decades of dormancy.
“After independence, we entered into integration for both ex-SWATF and ex-combatants to be together to form the national army but they excluded us from being recognised as war veterans; however, the reconciliation meant we were to be regarded as one to get the same treatment and recognition,” Kushonya conveyed.
In 2017, the then Attorney-General, Sacky Shanghala, was quoted as saying by New Era that ex-Koevoet and ex-SWATF members will not be recognised as war veterans – but they are entitled to receive other social benefits as accorded to all citizens.
Shanghala at the time also said the ex-soldiers are entitled to government benefits such as old-age pension grants, disability grants, and drought relief food.
However, NPF says it wants its members to be recognised as war veterans.
“As ex-SWATF, we have tried to align ourselves to various parties who have promised to go and represent our needs in parliament. But after voting them, they get to parliament and forget about us. That is why we have organised ourselves as NPF, so that when we get to parliament, we fight for what is due to us.
Therefore, all ex-Koevoet and ex-SWATF with our families and relatives must vote NPF to have a voice in parliament, in order to get recognition. From now on, we are going to start our door-to-door campaign,” Kushonya noted.