Govt can’t fulfil Swapo’s veterans payout directive
Plan to pay before elections impossible
Hope that payments would appease veterans ahead of the crucial November election is fading fast.
Government has admitted it cannot keep up with Swapo’s 2022 congress resolution that all veterans of the liberation struggle should receive payouts before 2024, a move that observers said was meant to appease the freedom fighters ahead of this year’s crucial general election.
Defence and veteran affairs minister Frans Kapofi has confirmed that “a sizeable number of veterans will remain unattended”, a situation that that is likely to infuriate many ahead of the November election.
Kapofi has been grappling with funding Swapo’s ambitious directive, saying last year that while the government symphathised with liberation combatants who have not yet received their ‘token of appreciation’, it had competing priorities to attend to.
"Government funds everyone. It cannot only fund veterans' projects. We just have to be content with what we have,” he was quoted as saying at the time.
The situation led to a confrontation a year ago when Kapofi, in a viral video taken during a meeting, said the veterans suggested that government must kill and sell elephants in order to raise funds to settle its dues to the liberation fighters.
Pressure mounting
The payout resolution, taken at the 2022 Swapo elective congress, reads: “The party directs government to fully realise the cash payout of veterans of the liberation struggle before 2024, and to accelerate and finalise the application by the veterans’ association for affiliation membership”.
In the past financial year, N$941 million of the N$1.2 billion allocated to veterans affairs was spent on eligible veterans and their dependents – totalling 21 428 people.
“The highest cost driver in the budget was the payment of the monthly grants to the veterans,” Kapofi said recently in his budget motivation speech.
But with elections looming, pressure is mounting on government to pay out monies to the remaining eligible veterans, who say government is taking too long – with some fearing that they might die before their money reaches them.
Currently, the ministry has a backlog of 11 000 unfunded individual veteran applications dating back to 2013, Kapofi told parliament recently.
“The number of [individual veteran applications] awaiting funding is, however, not static because veterans who previously did not apply are now applying, while the veterans whose applications were approved by the appeal board are also eligible for that benefit,” he said.
In the current budget, N$1.4 billion has been allocated towards veteran affairs. Of this, N$589 million will be channelled to paying the monthly allowances to eligible veterans this financial year.
N$17 million will be required to pay the once-off lump sum for the 338 newly-approved veterans who were successful in their appeals, while N$263 million is allocated to individual projects for 1 548 veterans.
Slight increase
Kapofi admitted that more veterans will remain unfunded this year. “With this allocation, a sizeable number of veterans will remain unattended,” he conceded.
The monies are paid to ex-combatants of Swapo’s military wing, the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), as well as to former Robben Island and Kai //Ganaxab political prisoners.
Kapofi revealed that the current N$2 200 received per month by eligible veterans will be increased, but he did not state to how much.
“The increase is attributed to retirement, medical boarding and successful appellants,” he said.
Plan Combatants Association chairperson Bamba Nghipandua told Namibian Sun yesterday that although he has no information on how far the process is to comply with the Swapo congress directive, he was conscious to the fact that payments would depend on what is made available in the budget.
"I don't have any information for you, but what I saw in the current budget [is that] there seems to be a slight increase in the payments. [I’m] hoping that the whole aim is to cover the payment of veteran projects," he said.
Defence and veteran affairs minister Frans Kapofi has confirmed that “a sizeable number of veterans will remain unattended”, a situation that that is likely to infuriate many ahead of the November election.
Kapofi has been grappling with funding Swapo’s ambitious directive, saying last year that while the government symphathised with liberation combatants who have not yet received their ‘token of appreciation’, it had competing priorities to attend to.
"Government funds everyone. It cannot only fund veterans' projects. We just have to be content with what we have,” he was quoted as saying at the time.
The situation led to a confrontation a year ago when Kapofi, in a viral video taken during a meeting, said the veterans suggested that government must kill and sell elephants in order to raise funds to settle its dues to the liberation fighters.
Pressure mounting
The payout resolution, taken at the 2022 Swapo elective congress, reads: “The party directs government to fully realise the cash payout of veterans of the liberation struggle before 2024, and to accelerate and finalise the application by the veterans’ association for affiliation membership”.
In the past financial year, N$941 million of the N$1.2 billion allocated to veterans affairs was spent on eligible veterans and their dependents – totalling 21 428 people.
“The highest cost driver in the budget was the payment of the monthly grants to the veterans,” Kapofi said recently in his budget motivation speech.
But with elections looming, pressure is mounting on government to pay out monies to the remaining eligible veterans, who say government is taking too long – with some fearing that they might die before their money reaches them.
Currently, the ministry has a backlog of 11 000 unfunded individual veteran applications dating back to 2013, Kapofi told parliament recently.
“The number of [individual veteran applications] awaiting funding is, however, not static because veterans who previously did not apply are now applying, while the veterans whose applications were approved by the appeal board are also eligible for that benefit,” he said.
In the current budget, N$1.4 billion has been allocated towards veteran affairs. Of this, N$589 million will be channelled to paying the monthly allowances to eligible veterans this financial year.
N$17 million will be required to pay the once-off lump sum for the 338 newly-approved veterans who were successful in their appeals, while N$263 million is allocated to individual projects for 1 548 veterans.
Slight increase
Kapofi admitted that more veterans will remain unfunded this year. “With this allocation, a sizeable number of veterans will remain unattended,” he conceded.
The monies are paid to ex-combatants of Swapo’s military wing, the People's Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN), as well as to former Robben Island and Kai //Ganaxab political prisoners.
Kapofi revealed that the current N$2 200 received per month by eligible veterans will be increased, but he did not state to how much.
“The increase is attributed to retirement, medical boarding and successful appellants,” he said.
Plan Combatants Association chairperson Bamba Nghipandua told Namibian Sun yesterday that although he has no information on how far the process is to comply with the Swapo congress directive, he was conscious to the fact that payments would depend on what is made available in the budget.
"I don't have any information for you, but what I saw in the current budget [is that] there seems to be a slight increase in the payments. [I’m] hoping that the whole aim is to cover the payment of veteran projects," he said.
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