Struggle kids descend on Swapo headquarters

MORE than 200 ‘children of the liberation struggle’ yesterday descended on the Swapo Party headquarters in Katutura and set up seven tents on the premises.

The group included the 98 people who had camped at a Swapo farm outside Windhoek since last year, and over 100 dubbed the ‘Okuryangava group’. The ‘farm group’ arrived at the headquarters in the early hours of yesterday morning after setting off from the farm at midnight, while the Okuryangava group joined them just after 08h00. The farm group was moved to the farm by the Swapo Party Youth League in November last year in order to prevent their arrest after they flouted a High Court eviction order. They had been staging an 80-day protest in front of the Ministry of Veterans’ Affairs where they demanded jobs, training and education.Both groups are adamant about their demands for jobs and educational opportunities, which they say were promised to them by Government through a Cabinet decision.The two groups decided to resume their protest after a list of about 130 names was issued for recruitment by the Namibian Defence Force. About 20 names from each group appeared on the list.They plan to remain at the Swapo headquarters until they are given jobs, and have threatened the party with their slogan: ‘no jobs, no vote’.Asked what they would achieve by this action, Okuryangava Group spokesperson Lucia Ntinda said: ‘We want jobs. We came here because Swapo leads the country. We want Swapo to move on our demands. We were born in Swapo and are children of Swapo.’