THE South West Africa National Union of Namibia (Swanu) says not only Swapo war veterans should be benefiting from state coffers.

Swanu secretary for economic affairs Issy Tjihoreko said in Windhoek on Tuesday that war veteran benefits were not only for Swapo veterans but for everyone that fought for the country's liberation.

"We are aware of Swanu comrades that were outside and inside the country fighting for this country. The war of the liberation struggle was fought from all corners of the country," he said.

Tjihoreko was speaking during a media briefing on the 63rd anniversary of Swanu.

"We are all aware that the independence of Namibia was a negotiated settlement and there was a rush to get independence to fill the stomachs of few comrades," he remarked.

He addded: "The harshly fast-written Constitution of Namibia is a proof that it was designed to benefit the haves and deprive the have-nots."

Tjihoreko said the struggle of Namibia started in 1904, with fighting to reclaim land lost to German colonialism.

He also charged that the attitude of the German government in negotiations about genocide reparations to be made to Namibia could not be tolerated.

Germany has agreed to give Namibia 1,1 billion euros (about N$18,6 billion) over 30 years in projects for the reconciliation and reconstruction of communities affected by the genocide, as a form of reparation.

"Our government is trying to derail the [genocide] negotiations process by [...] dividing the affected groups into several groups," Tjihoreko charged.

He also accused the government of trying to hijack the genocide reparations process by recognising one group of affected people above another.

Tjihoreko said the German government's offering of N$1,1 billion was a recipe for disaster.

"It's a clear sign of underestimating the intellectual capacity of the affected people based on skin colour; if it was against any white community, Germany could not have made this insulting offer," he charged.te