ONGWEDIVA – A group of former members of the liberation struggle said there is no patience left in them any longer and they want the long-awaited cash payment earmarked for Individual Veterans Projects (IVP) to be settled with immediate effect, saying they are getting old and cannot wait.

Hundreds of war veterans held a peaceful demonstration on Friday at the office of the ombudsman in Ongwediva to lodge a complaint against the Ministry of Defence and Veterans’ Affairs for “delaying” their payment.

The petition was received by ombudsman Basillius Dyakugha.

For many years and on numerous occasions, the war veterans have been demanding the N$200 000 payout meant for veterans who want to engage in income-generating projects be paid out to them in hard cash.

Their demands were finally met earlier this year when the government decided to give the long-awaited cash payout to insistent war veterans. However, a decision was made to reduce the initial amount to N$ 170 000.

So far, about 400 veterans have already received their payment and the government is expected to spend close to N$ 100 million on this project by the end of this year.

The war veterans feel that is just a drop in the ocean and they want the government to pay them all at once.

Currently, about 11 000 beneficiaries are waiting on this payment. “Veterans of the liberation struggle are ageing, in ailment condition and succumbed in poverty,” reads the petition.

Team leader, Sossy Shinyama, told New Era that he was informed by the ministry that it will only payout 276 veterans per financial year which he said is “unacceptably low” and it will take more than 40 years to complete the payouts for about 11 000 veterans who are entitled to this fund.

“You saw how very old they are. Many might not live long enough to benefit from this project and we have already waited long enough,” said Shinyama.

In the previous interview with New Era, the ministry indicated that the cash payout to insistent war veterans has come as a burdensome expense for the already-financially struggling government.

However, Shinyama slammed this sentiment, saying, “Don’t be mistaken, this country has a lot of resources that can sustain us. That is just a way of enriching themselves, but it’s not like this country doesn’t have money.”

In a petition, the group also said the majority of the veterans have been suffering and swimming in poverty and despair for 32 years since independence.

They also want the fund to be inheritable in instances where the beneficiary dies without getting paid out. “Comrades are diminishing without receiving their entitled benefits, living their children with nothing to live on in the form of inheritance. The veterans are also living in poverty with no proper shelter to live in, due to facts that the resettlement part of UN Resolution 435 of 1978 is not implemented, since the Namibian Refugees returned home in 1989,” the petition reads, also pleading with the ministry to fulfil its promise to settle the payment within a short period. The group complained that they have raised their concerns with minister Frans Kapofi and his deputy Hilma Nikanor on several occasions through meetings, letters, telephonic conversations, and demonstrations.

Approached for a comment, the spokesperson of ministry of defence, Edson Haufiku, said the government is very much aware of the plight of veterans and that is why they decided to pay them out in cash to speed up the process.

“It is not like the ministry doesn’t want to pay, there is an issue of budgetary constraints. The ministry started paying out in March this year and it will continuously pay once funds are available. As soon as we are allocated the budget, we will pay, but once that budget is depleted, we will have to wait for the next financial year,” he explained.

 “As a matter of fact, projects were not even worth N$200 000, it was anything between N$100 000 to N$200 000, so I think government is doing something and it’s not that they don’t want to pay, it all depends on the budget...If there is money, we will pay,” he said. 

– ashikololo@nepc.com.na