The group, who slept on the pavement outside the Ministry's offices on Tuesday night, planned to do the same last night.

They are demanding that the Ministry register them as war veterans on behalf of their parents, whose blood, they argued, "waters the freedom enjoyed by an independent nation today".

They are also calling on the Ministry to provide them with jobs, arguing that because of their status they have been discriminated against wherever they've tried to find work.

They have resisted attempts by the Windhoek City Police to remove them.

Veterans' Affairs Permanent Secretary William Amagulu told The Namibian yesterday that the Ministry had on numerous occasions sat down with the group's appointed leaders to hear their grievances.

He said the Ministry was in possession of a petition signed by the group, in which they complained of being discriminated against when applying for jobs at the Namibian Police and the Namibian Defence Force, and of being neglected by Government.

"Unfortunately, in terms of the Veterans' Act, there is no way they can be classified as war veterans.

I've told them that, if your father was a priest, you cannot expect to be classified a priest also on his behalf," Amagulu said.

He added that the delegates sent to speak to the Ministry last week seemed to understand the Ministry's position.

Amagulu said that many of the issues the group had raised with the Ministry were in fact issues they should have been taken up with the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Safety and Security and the Ministry of Defence.

Amagulu rejected the group's claims that Government was discriminating against the children of war veterans applying for jobs in Government.

He said such children were active in all the sectors they mentioned, including the Defence Force and the Police.

"We've told them that for most of these positions it is required that you have grade 12, and not only have it but to have passed it.

They wanted to be taken up regardless of their results.

We told them, that's not the army of today," Amagulu said.

He said the Ministry had asked the City Police to tread softly with the demonstrators in order to avoid a confrontation, adding that the Ministry spent most of Tuesday night with the demonstrators to try and get them to return to their homes.

The Ministry's entrance door was being left open for the demonstrators to use its toilets, he said.

"We even arranged for transport for them because we were concerned for their health out there.

There are no abolition facilities, and it's cold out there.

Some accepted, most have not," he said.

He said while many of the group seemed genuinely concerned, others appeared to be in it for the thrill of the demonstration itself.

"We want better lives, like other Namibians.

We want to go for further studies, we want work.

Our parents fought for this country and we still don't have jobs.

It's shameful", said one of the group's spokespersons, Selma Shivute.

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