War vets cancel another march

FEBRUARY 26, the day war veteran Alex Kamwi said would not pass without a mass demonstration of former Plan fighters through the streets of Windhoek, has silently come and gone.

At a meeting in Windhoek’s Greenwell Matongo informal settlement two weeks ago, more than 200 people pledged allegiance to Kamwi and his committee of ex-Plan combatants. They vowed, as Kamwi said, that “no one can stop us again”, after a similar plan was thwarted last year due to both a lack of participants and the intervention of the Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN).But by yesterday afternoon, the planned demonstration remained just that, as Kamwi said that the march had been called off for now.”We didn’t cancel, we put it on hold.We’re still waiting for information” was Kamwi’s immediate response to a query from The Namibian yesterday.The information the committee was waiting for, Kamwi said, was proof of their claims that compensation had been promised to Plan fighters by the United Nations (UN) following the liberation struggle.Another reason, he said, was because his committee was still awaiting a response from President Hifikepunye Pohamba on a petition sent to him last year.Last year, Government informed the committee that their demands in that petition added up to around N$6 billion and was thus too unrealistic to even consider.They vowed, as Kamwi said, that “no one can stop us again”, after a similar plan was thwarted last year due to both a lack of participants and the intervention of the Council of Churches in Namibia (CCN). But by yesterday afternoon, the planned demonstration remained just that, as Kamwi said that the march had been called off for now.”We didn’t cancel, we put it on hold.We’re still waiting for information” was Kamwi’s immediate response to a query from The Namibian yesterday. The information the committee was waiting for, Kamwi said, was proof of their claims that compensation had been promised to Plan fighters by the United Nations (UN) following the liberation struggle.Another reason, he said, was because his committee was still awaiting a response from President Hifikepunye Pohamba on a petition sent to him last year.Last year, Government informed the committee that their demands in that petition added up to around N$6 billion and was thus too unrealistic to even consider.