Catherine Sasman
7 October 2008
interview
The Ministry of Veterans Affairs has neared the end of the first phase of registration of veterans. New Era spoke to Minister Ngarikutuke Tjiriange.
What is the importance of your ministry?
This country has been liberated through a protracted armed struggle. In the process we have produced many people who have sacrificed for the independence of this country. Some of these people are no longer young; indeed, many are very old. For many, the only thing they knew was how to fight. They have skills in fighting, and they have spent most of their lives fighting. Many did not go to school. They therefore cannot get proper employment.
Yet, they have contributed and sacrificed. It is therefore proper for the State to see how it can address the plight of these people.
We have done quite a lot to address the problems of the former fighters such as employment, education, and so on.
We have done a lot in terms of putting in place structures such as the Development Brigade and SIPE. Various ministries have also been instructed to do a number of things for the fighters, like the ministry of labour that paid out money to veterans and the Ministry of Education that was instructed to give scholarships.
But all these efforts were scattered throughout different agencies of government. Hence, the need for coordinated effort now.
It is in recognition of this coordination that it was thought that the ministry should be established to look into this issue holistically, to promote the wellbeing of the former fighters in one way or the other.
In this way, the issue can be dealt with effectively and once and for all. This makes it a very important institution of government.
One person's veteran is not that of another. Is there consensus on what a 'veteran' constitutes in the country?
I don't think there should be a quarrel over who is or is not a veteran. We are talking about the veterans of the liberation struggle. Normally the word 'veteran' has a positive connotation. Thus, it means those who have contributed positively towards a positive gain. In this case it is the country's liberation. If you fought against liberation, you can never be a hero of the liberation struggle.
The person should have positively contributed towards independence. Anything else fought for cannot be regarded as positive. There should, therefore, be no quarrel.
Any person who persistently contributed without wavering has contributed in one way or another - diplomatically, politically, or militarily, or even underground - towards independence, surely qualifies to be a veteran.
But if people have been fighting for other things, then that person is not a veteran.
There is a clear-cut definition in the Veterans' Act, which states that you must have contributed towards bringing about to what we have today in one way or the other.
What is the estimated number of veterans in the country and what budget are you looking at to provide for this function?
This question can only be answered once everyone is properly registered. But one can make an estimation: from the repatriated ones to those who are in the country, this figure can amount to 50000 to 60000. One never really knows. But clarity will come when the registration process is over.
We have now started the registration process, and we have calculated 15000 so far. But this does not mean that these people are registered as veterans yet. They still have to go through a screening process. Some may not be successful. But this is what we have in the first round.
This process will continue until we have satisfied ourselves that everyone is registered. The door can still be opened for whoever comes late.
The children of former freedom fighters who are currently camping outside your ministry claim that they should also be considered as veterans. What would you say to that?
As I have said, you must have contributed one way or the other towards Namibia's independence - physically, yourself. You must have done that yourself to qualify as a veteran. The fact that you are a child of a veteran does not make you one.
As I also say jokingly, you may be a child of a pastor, but it does not mean that you are one. You have to go to school to study that skill.
The fact that your father was fighting in the frontline does not mean that you are a veteran. You must have done something to qualify.
How is Government addressing the thorny issue of these children?
No one denies that these are children of the veterans. And we do understand that these children have problems like any other youth. The fact that people crossed borders also does not mean that people should be considered veterans. Some people might have crossed because they were cowards who went under the protection of refugee camps, for example.
There are also people in this country that never crossed the borders, but they may have contributed immensely to the independence of this country. These people also have children who have equally suffered.
We therefore regard all these children as deserving attention to the extent that Government has a responsibility over the youth of this country.
Their problems are to be dealt with by the Ministry of Youth, National Service, Sport and Culture, because they are youth, but with their specific problems.
These youth may have unique problems such as proper documentation. This in itself creates its own problems.
They need jobs like any other youth, and this has to be addressed. It is a legitimate request for jobs or scholarships, or proper documentation. These things have to be addressed. Nobody says no. Personally, I have attended to them. I have told them it is not my responsibility, but I will take it upon myself to bring it to the attention of the Government, which I did. I brought it to the attention of Cabinet, which actually accepted what I have solicited for and the ministry concerned has been identified. There is a committee of ministers that is dealing with this matter. We are in the process of alleviating their problems. We are sympathetic to that. It is against this background that I have requested these youth to return to their homes in the meantime, while we work out what we can do for them.
Minister Willem Konjore has done that as well, and so has President Hifikepunye Pohamba. So, we are on it. We are not dismissing anything because what they are requesting is reasonable.
There is no need for them to hang around here as if no one will look into the matter. If the Government did not want to do that, it would not have established the committee of ministers.
We are very serious about what we are doing and we are going to attend to this issue.
One thing that has to be known is that we are going to do these things systematically, and in the regions - not here. This must be very clear. We are going to start in the regions where people are. Not under the trees here.
This has been communicated to them, but they still refuse to go. For them to sit here does not help anything.
The majority of these people are living in the regions, and that is why the problems must be addressed there.
To return to the issue of veterans, would you say the Namibian economy is able to sustain the provision of services to this group without a negative impact in the long run?
Money is never enough, no matter what projects there are, but this should not be discouraging as long as you are prudent and you do things in an organised and scientific manner. The money might not be enough to cover everyone, but we must do something that will at least attend to the problems of these veterans with the resources that we have.
A negative response would be to do nothing.
Slowly but surely we can do something to alleviate the suffering of the people with the means available to us.
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