By Willy Amutenya
First and foremost, the definition of “war veteran” must be positive – giving the first status to those who fought for the true cause of the liberation of the country, in this case the total liberation of Namibia and not contrary to definitions given anywhere else in this opinion text.
The meaning of a war veteran is so general that some may misinterpret its context. Nevertheless, a veteran is ” a person with long experience in a particular activity, especially military service.” I hope this kind of definition may not include even banditry activities of the former notorious paramilitary unit, coded then “Koevoet” during the colonial era. In the Namibian context the meaning of a war veteran must go hand in hand with productive and positive long experience in a military or political service for the good cause and not the other way around.
The activities of “Koevoet” during their colonial time were surely their banditry deeds: their aim was to confuse and obstruct the well-organised military activities of SWAPO PLAN fighters from achieving the independence of Namibia. This type of turmoil alone was totally counter-productive in the highest degree and, therefore, cannot be condoned and mixed up with the good or just cause of the liberation struggle.
When we are speaking or thinking of war compensation or benefits for the war veteran or victims, the category of Koevoet members is totally excluded in this context. Most members of Koevoet joined the colonial forces voluntarily with the aim of survival or to destroy with the purpose of eliminating SWAPO from the “face of the earth”, and there is no question about that. They were paid huge salaries, which could be regarded as ” a carrot and stick” by their colonial masters subject to their evil deeds they had committed in their operations, while SWAPO freedom fighters had never received any remuneration throughout their military actions against colonial forces.
With regard to SWATF which was the mastermind behind the establishment of the then Koevoet, some of these members had certainly joined voluntarily, but unfortunately some others were forcefully incorporated into the machinery of war under military conscription, which was compulsory practice for some ethnic groups, especially whites and coloured. The overall aims and objectives were to “disintegrate the backbone of SWAPO military activity” and prevent SWAPO by all means from winning the liberation struggle.
The fact is that the SWAPO military wing, PLAN, was created with the aim to force the then South African army of occupation (regime) to set Namibia free. Koevoet/SWATF units were formed by the colonialists to counter that aim. As a result of the ‘policy of national reconciliation’ a dark blanket was thrown on top of the whole situation without putting any condition. It appears now as if all warring parties were wrong or evil.
Those who were really wrong, as it was proven by the overwhelming victory of SWAPO at the time of the first elections, were not requested to apologise or to come out clean for the sake of true reconciliation.
Therefore, a clear-cut line must be drawn between the former SWAPO PLAN fighters and the former Koevoet/SWATF members, when it comes to a definition of war veteran, particularly in the Namibian context. It should be borne in mind that SWAPO was the only party which was recognised by the United Nations (UN) as the only true and authentic representative of the Namibian people during the liberation struggle.
This was not a comic story (joke) or a cheap business as some may think at all. For that reason, any decision as regard to status or compensation of war veterans must not be compromised to jeopardise the long sought benefits of SWAPO ex-combatants and other war veterans who had fought for a good cause.
It is true of course, for some reasons or so, for the sake of the national reconciliation policy that a concession should be found to incorporate some of the unemployed ex-Koevoet/SWATF members into some of the development projects, BUT not on the expenses of ex-PLAN fighters or place their prominence on par with the former freedom fighters. At independence some former Koevoet/SWATF members were incorporated into the new unified Namibian Defence Force or Police, which means at the time of their retirement they will be calculated as from the time they joined Koevoet/SWATF during the colonial era or before independence – long service.
We, ex-freedom fighters cannot be compared with the ex-Koevoet/SWATF members and even historical-wise, we will certainly not be the same, because we had totally divergent objectives and histories. So, our hard-won benefits we deserve, for the emancipation of our country can never be equivalent with theirs. We suffered at the hands of their former masters. Some of us had experienced emotional and physical torture and imprisonment for a very long time. We have lost beloved and dedicated comrades on the battlefields, some of whose graves are not marked or identified.
Some of us have lost our limbs and still suffer because of hallucinations and traumas caused by the war and torture: we are still having fearful nightmares, occurring every second or third week and we continue to suffer these traumas for the rest of our lives.
So, the ex-SWAPO combatant who had committed and sacrificed to walk on foot from Luanda to Windhoek without receiving any payments as incentive cannot be measured up to Koevoet bandits, who had used Casspirs to destroy civilian homesteads and crops of the Namibian people, particularly in northern Namibia which was known as the war zone.