New recruitment agency woos ex-soldiers

Officials from the Ministry of Presidential Affairs and the police yesterday questioned the leaders of a group that calls itself the Amabutho Royal Defence Agency, which purportedly seeks the reintegration of former members of the South-West Africa Territory Force (SWATF) into the South African National Defence Force (SANDF). The leader of Amabutho in Namibia, Paulus Matjapuka, yesterday confirmed that the officials were interviewing him about the organisation, and promised to speak to the media at a later stage once the officials left. According to him the government officials are on alert after a leader of the organisation’s mother body in South Africa, a certain General Petrus Ndaba, wrote to the Namibian High Commission there to request permission to visit the country for a planned three-day conference in Windhoek next month. Ndaba was among 1 000 former soldiers and officers of the former South African Defence Force (SADF) who marched in full military regalia to the parliament building in Cape Town in September to hand over a petition demanding reintegration into the SANDF. South African media reported that Ndaba at the occasion said non-integration of Amabutho into SANDF is “more serious than the Nkandla issue” in which over N$200 million of public money was spent on improvements to President Jacob Zuma’s homestead. In October last year the SANDF had warned the public against Amabutho’s “fraudulent recruitment scam”, saying it merely solicited money from potential applicants. The SANDF said Amabutho “lured” innocent victims from churches and schools over weekends in the Western Cape and “falsely” demanded N$700 for transportation to Pretoria and a T-shirt. It said potential applicants were also promised a salary of N$13 000 and an opportunity to study. The Amabutho group in Namibia has been feverishly recruiting former SWATF/Koevoet members, as well as anyone older than 17, since the beginning of this year. This recruitment here also comes at a cost. At a meeting at Rundu in September, potential applicants were told to pay N$250 to be enlisted and charged a monthly membership fee of N$100. People were asked to pay an additional N$3 000 for camouflage uniforms that would be brought in by the members of Amabutho in South Africa. This week, in Katima Mulilo, Windhoek and Walvis Bay, people were asked to pay N$3 500 for “late registration”, a “penalty” imposed since the recruitment drive ended Thursday. Edward Kamulu, a former member of SWATF, said he was approached by Amabutho’s recruitment officers in Walvis Bay who told him to take along his identity document, his SWATF military number, as well as the obligatory N$3 500. “They told me that it is imperative to register since they will lobby for pension payouts from SANDF,” Kamulu said. A woman who first identified herself as Marie and then as Juanita but known to recruit for Amabutho, said the “closing date for recruitment could come any day now”. She added that anyone who wants to attend the upcoming conference in Windhoek would have to pay an additional N$150 for the organisation’s green T-shirts and caps. “No-one will be allowed to attend the conference without the T-shirts and caps,” warned Farmer. Raphael Mupuma, a recruitment official in Windhoek, said Amabutho was first started in South Africa in 2009 and the Namibian branch was established in November last year after meetings with the mother body. “We joined them to get something from South Africa,” said one of the Amabutho leaders in Namibia, Kabinda Pacca. Pacca confirmed that the Namibian branch is aware that the SANDF has branded Amabutho as a scam, but said the public protector in that country, Thuli Madonsela, meanwhile declared the organisation as above board. There is no record to verify this claim. It is not the first time that former SWATF/Koevoet members are pursued to register with an organisation promising to lobby for veteran status and pension payouts for ex-soldiers in South Africa. Organisations such as the South African Military Veterans’ Forum and the Old South African Soldiers in Namibia (OSASN) have over the years been recruiting ex-soldiers and met with counterparts in South Africa. In 2004 the South African government distanced itself from a scheme that promised pension payouts to former SWATF/Koevoet members. According to South Africa’s Military Veterans’ Act adopted in 2011, a veteran is considered a citizen of that country who was in the army or who was involved “on both sides” in the “South African liberation war from 1960 to 1994”. CATHERINE SASMAN