WALVIS BAY – Disappointed pensioners from Walvis Bay, who receive pension grants from the South African Social Security Agency, say they did not steal and will not be arrested for something they are entitled to.
The pensioners this week told New Era that they paid tax to the former South African government for up to 20 years, and will not lose their pension over people who have no knowledge of how the pensions came about.
In fact, the pensioners say Sassa should pay them war veterans money if they want to cease their grants as they were never compensated for their pain and suffering by the South African apartheid government.
This follows after a visiting Sassa delegation on Tuesday announced that it was reviewing the grants it pays to local recipients.
The dual citizenship holders of Namibia and South Africa are receiving the grants due to terms of an agreement between the two governments as Walvis Bay was regarded as a former South African enclave.
Out of the 500 Namibians receiving pension grants from Sassa, about 300 are double-dipping. As it stands, pensioners who were residents of Walvis Bay until 1994, when the former South African enclave became part of Namibia, are receiving monthly pension grants from both countries.
The Namibian pension grant is N$1 350, while South Africa pays R1 890.
The spirit of Mandela
Pensioner Ennie Nel this week told New Era that she didn’t steal the money, but is entitled to that as they also endured and suffered under the brutal apartheid regime.
“Both governments must tell us how we got the green books from the ‘boers’. The boers threatened us, took us to Kuisebmond and forced us to take out those green books in Kuisebmond.
Now, they want to sent the police as if we stole the money,” a furious Nel said. She also explained that she belongs to the war veterans of South Africa, but never got her money.
“Where is our war veterans money? The late South African president Nelson Mandela decided that we should get the money. He said we would get it until we die, and I am still alive.
Now, people who don’t even know the history or were not born then must decide that we should not get our money,” she charged. Another pensioner, 86–year-old Tekla Hauses, said she worked for the South African government for 19 years at a local school, and is entitled to her grant.
She explained that she also paid tax to the apartheid government for all those years that she was employed before Walvis Bay was handed over to Namibia.
“It is not a decision that was made lightly or should be taken lightly. We all had suffered under and contributed to the apartheid government.
It is also not out of free will that we went and registered, but it was a requirement for all those in possession of the green book to register once they turn 60 years,” she explained.
Another elder, who spoke on condition of anonymity, reasoned that they did not break into the government’s offices, and that many of them worked for years for the South African government.
“Some people died while struggling to get their pension money and died poor, despite paying tax to the boers. They should not come here and play with our source of income,” she
stressed.
Hands off
Meanwhile, the Affirmative Repositioning movement’s branch at Walvis Bay on Wednesday said in a statement that it is disheartening to see elders being threatened with arrest.
In a letter directed to the gender equality ministry’s executive director Esther Lusepani, activist Knowledge Ipinge said he is flabbergasted to learn that the ministry has prematurely turned to apartheid and colonial-era tactics of threatening the elderly with arrests through propaganda techniques, which they have been subjected to before the reintegration of Walvis Bay in 1994.
“Our elderly are and were never beneficiaries of veterans grants, despite their participation in political, diplomatic and other activities in Walvis Bay before our independence. Your office should acquaint itself with the minutes and resolutions taken by the joint administration, which was established as an interim arrangement for Walvis Bay and the Penguin Islands. Consult Founding President Sam Nujoma, vice president Nangolo Mbumba and other relevant authorities who participated in the strategic diplomatic relations with South Africa,” said Ipinge, who indicated that he would seek legal advice on the matter. edeklerk@nepc.com.na