Nangula Shejavali
11 November 2008
THE 'children of the liberation struggle' who have been demonstrating outside the Ministry of Veterans' Affairs for over two months have requested asylum from the Angolan embassy, accusing Government of treating them as refugees in their own country.
According to Shinedima Salomon, the demonstrators' spokesperson, the majority of the protesters were born in Kwanza Sul, Angola, with a few having been born in Zambia.
In a letter sent to the Angolan embassy yesterday, the group appealed for its "intervention in their wellbeing in Namibia".
"We are Angolans by birth; hence, we are sincerely asking the Angolan government to make arrangements possible for us to come back to our country of birth considering that the Namibian Government doesn't want to consider us as Namibians despite our 18 years of stay here," the letter stated.
It accused Government of being unwilling to offer them suitable jobs and to pay for their education, despite losing their parents in the struggle.
"All in all, it seems the Government does not feel the emotional pain we are suffering," the letter says.
"Their (Government officials') children are benefiting from State money in terms of educational costs, travelling costs and other costs.
Why not us also getting the same privileges?" The Angolan embassy has acknowledged receipt of the letter, but the ambassador could not be reached for comment yesterday.
Pohamba Shifeta, Deputy Minister of Youth, National Service, Sport and Culture, told The Namibian that "there is no rationale behind such a request, and it seems a futile exercise".
He added that the Namibian Government was trying to help the protesters, but they would not accept this help.
"They should be careful in terms of how they are implicating the Angolan government," Shifeta said.
"It is their own individual right if they want to look for domicile abroad, but involving others and the Angolan government in this manner seems baseless, and they should be careful of how they conduct themselves in this regard."
Shifeta said the registration of people born in exile was going well and would continue "for those who are registered and who want to be helped".
The registration process started on October 27 but was suspended in the Khomas Region after tensions flared between the registrants and authorities at the Khomas Regional Council, where the exercise was taking place.
Shifeta said the registration period has been extended in some regions to accommodate all those who still need to register.
With regard to the demonstrators, he said: "There are a set of rules that govern our relationship, and if they continue to ignore these, they may end up not benefiting from how the Government is trying to help them.
We continue to appeal to them to obey the instructions that have been given.
We are not preventing them from airing their concerns, but they are now camping illegally, and those that are not co-operating will be left out."
Two weeks ago, Cabinet instructed TransNamib board to urgently apply for a court interdict for the eviction of the protesters.
TransNamib owns the building next to the Windhoek railway station rented by the Ministry of Veterans' Affairs.
Consultations at TransNamib are ongoing, and an eviction order has yet to be issued.
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