The Ministry of Defence and Veterans Affairs has been told to consider including the dependants of liberation war veterans in receiving government benefits.
This is contained in a report by the parliamentary standing committee on constitutional and legal affairs, released by the parliament yesterday.
The committee has instructed the veterans’ affairs ministry, in consultation with the Ministry of Justice, to review the proposed amendments to the Veterans Act and to come up with amendments that would accommodate children who were in exile during the liberation struggle.
This comes after the Association of Dependents Veterans Namibia (AODVD) demanded that the Veterans Act be amended to include them in veterans’ compensation, as it currently does not allow for such.
The AODVD lodged a petition with the National Assembly last June requesting the amendment of the Veterans Act to change the definition of ‘a child of a veteran’.
According to these dependants, they were below the age of 18 at the time of independence, but they are currently over 30.
However, the Veterans Act was only enacted in 2008, and the definition of ‘a child of a veteran’ was stated as a person below the age of 18.
“The children were born in exile, and some joined the liberation struggle as minors. There was no reason why they could not be included in the act and benefit like the rest of the veterans who were in exile,” committee chairperson Kletus Karondo said.
OVERSIGHT
He said after considering the concerns raised by petitioners and the views of the ministry, the committee believed the inclusion of the children born in exile or those who participated in the war as minors was an oversight from the ministry.
The committee said the issue of the dependants of war veterans has been an ongoing concern for an extended period.
During the consultation with ministry officials, it became apparent that they have not made any effort to review and address the exclusion of the children of the liberation struggle in the act, who were over the age of 18 when the Veterans Act was enacted.
The concern raised by the petition is that the act automatically excluded those above 18 years. Within the same act, the definition of a dependant of a war veteran refers to any person of any age.
This would only benefit those with surviving parents when they die, the petition states.
The consequences of the exclusion of children of war veterans above the age of 18 resulted in those affected enduring hardship as they were unable to receive any benefits from the government, it states.
Karondo said this led to the birth of the ‘children of the liberation struggle’ or ‘ struggle kids’ in an attempt to get the attention of the government to address their concerns.
“The government took too long to come up with a piece of legislation to address the problems of war veterans, and when it was enacted in 2008, the children of living and deceased war veterans above the age of 18 were excluded from the act. Therefore, they do not qualify as beneficiaries for government programmes earmarked for war veterans,” he said.
Meanwhile, the report also indicated that the deputy executive director of defence and veterans affairs explained to the committee that there was no provision within the Veterans Act for any benefits for the dependants of war veterans over 18.
The executive director said the act only made provision for minors under 18 years, hence it was a challenge for the ministry to take care of the needs of the dependants of war veterans over the age of 18.
According to the report, the ministry held several consultations with representatives of AODVN, but they were not able to reach an amicable solution.
Despite that, the ministry, through a Cabinet decision, instituted programmes meant to look into the plight of the children of the liberation struggle.
This was, however, challenged by the Office of the Ombudsman as unconstitutional in court as it only looked into a particular segment of the community, excluding other children.
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