Drought relief a political ploy: DTA

THE Ovatue people at the Ohaiuua Resettlement Village in the Epupa Constituency say they are being bullied into becoming Swapo members through the distribution of drought relief.

Ohaiuua village houses 33 households, or 225 people.
At a press conference hosted by the DTA party yesterday morning, residents of the camp said there are political strings attached to the food aid that they are receiving, and that Swapo is exerting pressure on them to join the party as a precondition to receiving their rations.
However, Gabriel Kangowa, Deputy Director of the Emergency Management Unit (EMU) in the Office of the Prime Minister, dismissed these allegations as baseless and untrue, saying: ‘When we distribute drought relief, we don’t go on party issues, we go there to respond to the needs of the people.’
The Ovatue people at the DTA press conference said otherwise.
‘We were not told that we would be receiving aid from any particular party, but from Government. But now we see that there are political attachments to the food,’ said Kandjendje Hepute, one of the Ohaiuua residents.
‘When we were receiving Government assistance, we thought it would be a genuine Government initiative for helping the poor. But we can see now that there is a political motive behind the process,’ said Kunoupe Thom, who added that the people there were not allowed to leave the camp, with the risk of losing their homes and their livestock if they did so.
‘We were told that if we belong to another party other than the ruling party, we would not receive food. I am a DTA member, and I was struck by these statements and don’t know what to do,’ added Vakarunga Tjombizu.
DTA President Katuutire Kaura described the situation as ‘criminal’, saying that those at Ohaiuua were being kept hostage in the camp for election time, and were being treated as refugees in their own country.
‘As far as I’m concerned, this means of using food aid to convert people to another party is wrong and its criminal,’ he said.
Kaura said that at its congress, Swapo had made a resolution to gain a majority in the Kunene Region, which, he says, has been a thorn in the flesh of the ruling party.
The DTA President accused the ruling party of bypassing constituency and regional authorities, and using ‘Swapo functionaries’ to distribute the food aid – a charge vehemently denied by Prime Minister Nahas Angula, who said that as with all regions, distribution was being handled through the Regional Council office and the Emergency Management Unit.
He added that the Special Feeding Programme, of which the San and Ovatue communities are both beneficiaries, was arranged through the EMU, with staff seconded by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Child Welfare.
Angula admitted that there had been some problems with the distribution of drought relief due to contractors not honouring their delivery obligations, as reported earlier this year, but stated that these problems have now been attended to, and that the distribution of drought relief has been continuing as usual since January 7.
He dismissed Kaura’s other claims as ‘hollow’, ‘strange’ and ‘desperate’.
‘Please Mr Kaura, don’t bring confusion to the Namibian people by telling them untruths,’ the Prime Minister said.
Angula said Government had improved the situation of the Ovatue people, and that they had been moved to the resettlement villages early last year to keep them from starving because of the drought.
‘The Government was forced to take care of that situation because the DTA councillor had failed to do his job. He had ignored their precarious situation during a time of drought when they were living in the mountains, and when their plight came to be realised, the option was to resettle them.’
Angula added that the Government had done its best to provide shelter, food, water and schools to the people of Ohaiuua and other resettlement communities, stressing that the village is not a ‘refugee or detention camp’ as alleged by Kaura.
He added that the people were not restricted to the camp. ‘Freedom of movement is guaranteed in our Constitution. The only thing which was agreed upon with the community is that no alcohol use is allowed in these villages.’
In his report on an EMU mission to the Kunene Region last week, Kangowa said the distribution of food relief had been delayed by at least a month, but that each household in the Ohaiuua community received two 12,5-kg bags of maize meal, two bottles of cooking oil and four tins of fish on January 7.
Realising that this would be insufficient, the EMU distributed more food this week. Each resident (as opposed to household) received a bag of maize meal, a bottle of cooking oil, and a tin of fish, he said. – nangula@namibian.com.na