Struggle continues for ‘Struggle Children’

THE ‘Children of the Liberation Struggle’ who last year held an 80-day protest in Windhoek before being whisked off to a Swapo farm outside the city, where they have been stationed for over three months, are feeling dejected and ignored.

The group, whose size has decreased from the initial 112 to 98, are facing the wrath of the rain in the tents in which they are living, with one of the nine tents letting in water. They are concerned that the other tents, many of them old, may soon start leaking too.Asked how the group is coping with the rain, spokesperson Salomo Shinedima simply told The Namibian: ‘We are coping very hard, my friend!’Shinedima said they are frustrated by the slow pace at which Government is addressing their demands.’We are sick and tired of being here. People have even been spreading rumours by associating crime in the area with our group, but we didn’t come here to steal. We came with an objective of getting employment and education and that is what we are waiting for. We want to be able to work and provide for ourselves.’He said the group has not received any communication from Government regarding the registration and verification processes, but added that he is awaiting feedback from Elijah Ngurare, Secretary of the Swapo Party Youth League (SPYL), with whom he has been in touch.’We spoke to Comrade Ngurare today, and asked him to talk to them (Government) to ask if they are really going further or if they have forgotten us. We are waiting for that feedback,’ he said.’Since we moved here, we have been patient and patient enough. But to us, it looks like they just wanted us out of their faces, and now that we are here, we are not being considered. The only one that comes here is Ngurare, and we’ve had one visit from Minister Nangolo Mbumba.’The group was moved to the Swapo farm by the SPYL to prevent their arrest for flouting a High Court eviction from TransNamib’s property at the Ministry of Veterans’ Affairs on November 19 last year.Another group currently based in Okuryangava, which split from the demonstrators at the request of President Hifikepunye Pohamba during the protest, said they too are awaiting word from the Ministry of Youth, which chairs the technical committee on their situation.Christian Mwawedange, leader of the Okuryangava group, said: ‘We feel that people are lying to us and don’t want to do what we have asked. They are always making excuses about having no budget, and other things.’Mwawedange said the once bitter relationship between his group and those situated at the farm has been resolved, and the two groups are now working together to achieve their objectives. ‘We are all children of the struggle. We have one vision and we are fighting for the same thing,’ he said.Ministry of Youth Permanent Secretary Peingeondjabi Shipoh says the second phase of the registration process will start on March 9, lasting one week, and the verification process will start now. He said a statement will soon be issued announcing the place and time of registration.’We have recorded a number of 693 people that are still not registered, including 288 in the Khomas Region where registration had been suspended. We have been sorting the 8 000 already registered according to their needs, i.e. whether they require education or employment, and the verification will start now to ensure that the information provided during registration is indeed true,’ Shipoh said.He said all the information currently at the Ministry’s disposal, including the list of names of people who registered, has been shared with all Government ministries involved on the technical committee, and that the Ministry of Defence and the National Youth Service have already started employing or training some of them.Shipoh said the Ministry of Youth has already spent more than N$3 million on the registration process.He said there is no separate budget for the ‘Struggle Children’ in the National Budget, which had been completed in October – before the protest. Every Ministry involved in the committee will have to use its existing budget to implement projects for them. ‘The Ministry of Education, for example, already has bursaries. So they must budget for the Children of the Liberation Struggle in this way,’ Shipoh said. A separate budget might be included in the next year’s National Budget, he said.nangula@namibian.com.na