Geingob meets with ex-SWATF/Koevoet

CATHERINE SASMAN

President Hage Geingob and a small ministerial entourage on Thursday met former SWATF/Koevoet members for close to two hours in what is considered the first fruitful meeting between a properly constituted government delegation and the former soldiers.

Geingob was accompanied by the minister of presidential affairs, Frans Kapofi, the director-general of the Namibian Central Intelligence Agency, Philemon Malima, the minister of safety and security, Charles Namoloh, and the attorney-general, Sacky Shanghala.

The chairperson of the Namibia War Veterans Trust (Namvet), Jabulani Ndeunyema, said they were warmly received at State House and a determination was made to put aside the war of words waged against the ex-soldiers by cabinet ministers and other senior leaders of the ruling party.

Namvet claimed that high-ranking government and ruling party officials have “persistently” engaged in acts of “overt hostility or vengeance” against former SWATF/Koevoet members, which included “propaganda for war” and other forms of hate speech.

They requested that Geingob intervene immediately and demonstrate to the nation that he is the president of all Namibians.

Ndeunyema said Geingob asked the ex-soldiers to put their demand to be recognised as war veterans on the backburner and instead consider projects the government can assist them with.

One of the things the ex-soldiers did ask for in their meeting with Geingob was counselling and treatment for battle-related injuries.

They also asked for medical aid, pension payouts and compensation, education, training and skills development.

The ex-soldiers said they reserved the right to enlist the services, guidance and advice of international bodies such as the United Nations and the International Court of Justice if their concerns were not tackled expeditiously. The alternative, they said, was to continue with their protest sit-ins.

They added that the one-off demobilisation payout they had received shortly after independence was not enough to live on.

Namvet claims to be representing 3 885 “limbless, mentally troubled, blind, disabled and paralysed” former soldiers and says more than 10 000 former SWATF/Koevoet members are “rotting away in poverty”.

Namvet undertook to invite all former SWATF/Koevoet soldiers to a meeting on 26 November to talk about the outcome of the meeting with Geingob and to consider possible government-assisted projects.

Ndeunyema said he would also engage with Amabutho to stop the regular visits to South Africa, which is a pretext of ongoing talks with authorities there.

GEINGOB’s RESPONSE

According to Ndeunyema President Geingob has asked that the ex-soldiers in future desist from going to South Africa in search of monetary compensation. Geingob reportedly proposed that they instead engage with the Namibian government.

Geingob reportedly also said that this first engagement would be the start of a continued dialogue between the ex-soldiers and the government.

TROUBLE IN SWAPO

Geingob asked the ex-soldiers why they wanted to engage with the government now. In response they said they had been approached by “extremist fundamentalist groups” in the SADC region desirous to establishing destabilising “terrorist” groups.

Ndeunyema also informed President Geingob of clandestine visits by some elements in the ruling party that had allegedly offered the ex-soldiers money to “cause chaos” for the Geingob presidency.

“I told the president that Swapo is more divided since he became the president. Namibia is not at peace,” said Ndeunyema.