Ex-SWATF and Koevoet members demand veteran status

Former Koevoet members and SWATF soldiers, represented by the Namibia War Veterans’ Trust (Namvet), are still demanding to be registered as war veterans and to benefit from the Ministry of Veterans’ Affairs funding programmes. In a letter from Namvet leaders Linus Tobias and Lazarus Petrus, the former Koevoet members and South West Africa Territory Force (SWATF) soldiers said they are bona fide Namibians and should also be benefitting from the veterans funds of the Namibian government. Koevoet was a paramilitary-trained police counter-insurgency unit during Apartheid South Africa’s illegal occupation of Namibia. The unit was notorious for committing acts of brutality against civilians. Tobias is the coordinator of Namvet for the Oshana and Omusati regions, while Petrus is the Namvet coordinator for the Ohangwena and Oshikoto regions. In their letter, the two said: “Ex-SWATF and Koevoet members were trained soldiers. We want to be disarmed financially like the former People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) fighters.” Their demand is a direct response to the Deputy Minister of Defence Petrus Ilonga, who told a crowd at a belated celebration of Namibia’s Independence anniversary at Omusheshe village in the Oshana Region last Saturday that former Koevoet and SWATF combatants would never benefit from the Veterans’ Affairs Ministry. “We have forgiven them and even recruited them for jobs in our government, but we will not forget the atrocities they perpetuated against our people,” Ilonga told the gathering at Omusheshe. In their response, the former soldiers asked whether the policy of national reconciliation was not meant to unite the Namibian nation after the liberation war. Ex-SWATF and Koevoet members believe they also contributed to the peace and stability which Namibians currently enjoy, as they remained patient and never demanded what was due to them for the past 24 years. “For how long are the Namibian people going to allow themselves to be divided by those who are abusing State power to advance self-interest and to discriminate against fellow Namibians because they are not their relatives of favourites?” they asked. The former SWATF and Koevoet members said they want the Namibian government to refund them the N$24 million that was paid out to ex-PLAN combatants and channelled to the failed Development Brigade Corporation (DBC) shortly after independence, if they are not to be recognised as war veterans. The N$24 million was deducted from N$36 million which the then government of South Africa had earmarked as demobilisation allowances for SWATF and Koevoet members. The ex-SWATF and Koevoet members expressed unhappiness that they were excluded when “the Swapo government” decided to divide the N$36 million into three equal portions of N$12 million for them, ex-Plan combatants and the now defunct DBC. “Most of us did not receive a single cent from that amount. The DBC was created with that money, but none of the former SWATF and Koevoet members was recruited for the DBC despite the fact that DBC was created with our money,” they said. The SWATF and Koevoet ex-combatants also said Deputy Minister Ilonga’s statements are a violation of the country’s constitution, as he seemed to indicate that the government belongs only to members of the ruling Swapo Party. “Do you know the pain we suffered when the government created the Ministry of Veterans’ Affairs only for the one side,” the former SWATF and Koevoet members asked Ilonga in their letter. WINDHOEK NAMPA