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Swapo Lubango dungeon victims also war veterans
FORMER detainees in Swapo’s notorious Lubango dungeons will be eligible for the status of war veterans.
This was confirmed yesterday by the Minister of Veterans’ Affairs, Ngarikutuke Tjiriange.
Speaking in Windhoek during a workshop on his Ministry’s 2008 to 2012 Strategic Plan, the minister for the first time made clear Government’s position on those jailed by Swapo as South African spies during the liberation struggle.
The Veterans’ Affairs Ministry is currently registering thousands of potential war veterans across the country, who hope to benefit from a number of socio-economic support grants and programmes administered by it.
Government previously said that people who had fought on the opposite side of the war, as part of the South African military and police, would not be eligible for registration as war veterans.
“As we all know, the struggle was long and bitter. We had our strategies, and they (South African apartheid forces) had their own strategies.
The war is over now, so we can freely admit that both had spies,” the minister said when asked about the Lubango issue.
He said while the South Africans had ways of dealing with suspected spies, locking them up at various prisons both in Namibia and in South Africa, so did Swapo.
“In the process, you may have arrested people who you suspected, but who may not have been as active (as initially thought),” he said.
“So the answer is easy. If someone was not convicted of any offence (during that time), but was caught in the crossfire, they will be associated with the struggle. They will be treated as a veteran,” he said.
The ministry’s Permanent Secretary, William Amugulu, said those who “did underground work” for the struggle would also be regarded as veterans.
He said people who either physically fought during the struggle, or who were involved in political activity for the cause, or who gained international support through diplomatic means, would qualify.
“But we’ll also look at those who operated from inside the country, working underground for the cause. As well as those who worked in the South West African Police, but who secretly worked for the cause of the struggle,” Amugulu said.
To date, the Veterans Board has registered 5 000 recognised war veterans, the Director of Policy Heritage and Social Affairs in the ministry, Kaatry Imalwa, said yesterday.
She said more than 20 000 applications had been received since registration started in July last year.
Registration will continue as long as the Ministry remains in existence, Amugulu said,
He said grants are also being paid out to minor dependents of veterans whose parents have died.
The Ministry hopes to get funding from at least six sources besides the Treasury – donor agencies especially, Amugulu said.
According to the five-year plan, the ministry will need N$1,138 billion to execute all its plans.
This funding will be needed for, among other things, continuing the registration of veterans, the production of a number of periodicals detailing the history of the liberation struggle, capacity building of ministry staff, and in setting up a number of projects for the veterans.
