‘Dead’ soldier dug his own grave

THE Ministry of Defence feels that it has no legal duty toward Tjuu Uarije (48), who was the victim of insurance fraud in 2000 in which he was declared dead.

The Permanent Secretary of Defence, Petrus Shivute, on Friday responded to an article The Namibian published a month ago about Uarije’s cry for help, suggesting that the soldier ‘dug his own grave’ when he resigned from service shortly after he was declared dead.Uarije was one of 208 victims of a N$7,3 million death benefit scam that rocked the NDF in 2000, and which eventually resulted in the imprisonment of an NDF personnel officer, Emmanuel Kapumba Mununga. Between December 1997 and December 2000, Muninga wrote out fake death certificates and claimed the soldiers’ death benefits from Sanlam.Uarije told The Namibian that when the NDF wanted to send him to Angola, he felt that his life was being put in danger and so he resigned on July 31 2000. He did not get his pension because he had been certified as dead in June that year. ‘I tried to get assistance from the NDF, but they said this was not their problem anymore because the matter has been dealt with in court. I also went to the Ministry of Justice, but they said it was an NDF matter,’ he said.He called on the government to re-employ him because he would still be useful.Shivute said the story was ‘deeply misleading’, and the fact that Uarije was fraudulently declared dead did not take away the fact that he resigned two months later.’This is because the death declaration was fraudulent and thus null and void and has no effect. This is contrary to the claim that his resignation was made null and void by the death declaration,’ Shivute said.He further stated that any financial claim Uarije may have had against the ministry could have been done within three years from the date of his resignation.Shivute also claims that Uarije’s personnel file indicated that a pension of N$39 245 was transferred from GIPF to Sanlam, and that Uarije personally approached GIPF for the transaction to be made.As for Uarije’s request to be ‘taken back’ by the NDF, Shivute said Uarije was over the age limit to be recruited as a specialist and there was no legal basis why the ministry should be ‘compelled’ to re-employ him.Shivute urged Uarije to approach the Ministry of Home Affairs to get the death certificate nullified.