Nudo hits back at Hage over Koevoet treatment

Nudo says it is deplorable that apartheid commanders were forgiven, while the plight of SWATF and Koevoet foot soldiers was being ignored by the Namibian government. The opposition party has called on these former apartheid foot soldiers be incorporated into the country’s armed forces or that they be accorded veteran status. Nudo spokesperson Joseph Kauandenge said in a statement that the SWATF/Koevoet issue must be addressed with the urgency it requires. His comments follow those of President Hage Geingob during his State of the Nation Address on Tuesday when he said although the Namibian government inherited the country from the apartheid 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... So Koevoet and SWATF history is gone, it is gone,” said Geingob. Kauandenge said that in 1990, Namibia was founded on the premise of a unitary and democratic State and opposing sides decided to embrace the policy of national reconciliation and to forgive each other. “It is therefore despicable and illogical that 25 years down the road of this road we have travelled as a nation there are still some members of our society who are being discriminated against by the very same government that pledged to serve everyone equally,” he said. Kauandenge said it was even “more deplorable” that those who had been in lower ranks of the apartheid regime, and who were ordered to carry out activities on behalf of the rogue State, “are being made to feel worse than dogs”. He said these people were being treated with contempt, “while those who gave them orders and were commanders of different battalions during that period are now benefiting from the very same independence they so vigorously fought against”. “Many still continue to own properties and farms they got through the policy of apartheid. For them nothing has changed, only the face of a black man as President. The rest is business as usual.” Kauandenge said many of these former apartheid commanders are now owners of private security firms, while some are in top positions in the military and the police, while many of the foot soldiers are seen as “traitors”. “It is safe to say that we are a nation without a soul if we can treat our own in this way, while opening up and warming to those who were actually in control of that period. This borders on hypocrisy of the highest order.” Kauandenge also questioned why former SWATF and Koevoet soldiers cannot be incorporated into Namibia’s armed forces. “History will one day hold us in captivity, frozen and unable to defend ourselves as a nation, as a result of being unable to forgive each other and move forward in building this nation. Our inability to forgive those of our same colour, yet being overfriendly with those former commanders speaks of ‘house negro syndrome’, as Malcolm X put it.” Kauandenge called upon government to revisit its decision not to accord veteran status to former apartheid soldiers, as simmering and unresolved tensions may be a recipe for disaster in the long run. “We thus call for a dialogue between government and these former fighters, as ignoring them will not make them disappear at all.” WINDHOEK STAFF REPORTER