Geingob blows off Koevoet pension money pleas

President Hage Geingob has told former SWATF and Koevoet soldiers that Namibia does not have the approximately N$36 million pension money they claim was received from South Africa. Geingob was reacting to a question about compensation for former apartheid soldiers during the questions session in the National Assembly yesterday after his maiden State of the Nation Address. The question from Workers Revolutionary Party (WRP) MP Salmon Fleermuys also dealt with the marginalisation of these ex-SWATF and Koevoet soldiers. “Go to South Africa. We are not accountable for it. N$36 million was going to be given to SWATF and our president at the time (Sam Nujoma) said we are forming a reconciliation, why don’t we share it with all those who were fighting,” Geingob said. “And then it was agreed to give N$12 million to former People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (PLAN) fighters and N$12 million to SWATF and Koevoet fighters and (SA) kept N$12 million. “To imply that we have the money somewhere else... we are not responsible for that.” He said although the Namibian government inherited the country from the South African government, it is not accountable for what the South Africans did. “They did many bad things. We were fighting the war against the South Africans and some of the Namibians joined that war on the other side. “Now the problem with defeat and winning is that dictation comes from the victor. It will be the history of the victor. His story that will be told. So Koevoet and SWATF history is gone, it is gone.” Geingob added, nevertheless, that former Koevoet and SWATF soldiers are not discriminated against, and this was evident in Fleermuys’s election to the National Assembly. WINDHOEK ELVIS MURARANGANDA