We are staying put: Protesters

‘WE will not leave until our demands are met,’ said a group of liberation struggle children camping out at Swapo’s Oshana HQ at Oshakati recently.

‘We are really suffering here, but are determined to stay put till we get employment from our father Swapo, our father President Hifikepunye Pohamba and our Founding President Sam Nujoma,’ said John Malumbu, spokesperson of the 480 young people camped out at Kandjengedi. Malumbu told The Namibian on Saturday that the group does not have anything to eat and no clean water to drink and wash with. He said Swapo officials at the party’s Oshana HQ have closed the only tap available to them. He also said the only pit latrine at their disposal was already full and they had nowhere else to relieve themselves. The group also complained about the recent recruitment of young people for jobs, a process they said had been corrupted by nepotism, when officials recruited people not from their group while they should have been first in line.Last week, a senior headman from the Ondonga Traditional Authority, Eino Johannes Amutenya, and two local businessmen, Hesekiel Nanyeni and Paulus Shikalepo, collected money and bought food for the group. However, the food has been finished, said Malumbu. In a recent plea letter to President Pohamba, the group asked that their situation be urgently addressed. The deadline for a response was April 24. No response had been received by that date. Among the group are many pregnant women and young children.