FORMER Namibian Police officers who served in the Koevoet paramilitary unit and the South West African Territorial Force (SWATF) unit under South African rule should also benefit from the newly established Ministry of Veterans’ Affairs, an opposition politician has said.
Henk Mudge, President of the Republican Party (RP), said many officers who served in those units were suffering today in the same way former fighters of the People’s Liberation Army of Namibia (Plan) were. “We must never forget that these members were merely professional soldiers (and police officers), recruited by a foreign country (South Africa) and fighting a war to which the Namibian nation was for all intent and purposes only spectator,” Mudge pleaded at a news conference in Windhoek on Friday.”There could be no doubt that they were intimidated and brainwashed to believe that they had to fight the enemy with everything at their disposal – exactly the same way in which Swapo brainwashed the Plan fighters,” Mudge said.Although some former Koevoet and SWATF members had been incorporated into the Namibia Defence Force and the Namibian Police, they did not enjoy the same benefits as former Plan fighters, who receive a war veterans’ pension, he added.”The Government initiated various projects after Independence to employ former Plan fighters, like the Namibia Development Brigade and the Special Field Force unit in the Police,” Mudge said.”We want to plead with President Hifikepunye Pohamba for the sake of justice, reconciliation and humanity, to include these former members of SWATF and Koevoet so they can also benefit from this new ministry,” he said.”We must never forget that these members were merely professional soldiers (and police officers), recruited by a foreign country (South Africa) and fighting a war to which the Namibian nation was for all intent and purposes only spectator,” Mudge pleaded at a news conference in Windhoek on Friday.”There could be no doubt that they were intimidated and brainwashed to believe that they had to fight the enemy with everything at their disposal – exactly the same way in which Swapo brainwashed the Plan fighters,” Mudge said.Although some former Koevoet and SWATF members had been incorporated into the Namibia Defence Force and the Namibian Police, they did not enjoy the same benefits as former Plan fighters, who receive a war veterans’ pension, he added.”The Government initiated various projects after Independence to employ former Plan fighters, like the Namibia Development Brigade and the Special Field Force unit in the Police,” Mudge said.”We want to plead with President Hifikepunye Pohamba for the sake of justice, reconciliation and humanity, to include these former members of SWATF and Koevoet so they can also benefit from this new ministry,” he said.
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