Parly committee wants Veterans Act amended to benefit dependents
Dependents of veterans petition parliament
The parliamentary standing committee says the exclusion of some liberation struggle kids from assistance afforded under the Veterans Act was an oversight that must be corrected.
The parliamentary standing committee on constitutional and legal affairs has recommended the veterans ministry amend the Veterans Act to ensure benefits extend to all children born outside Namibia during the liberation struggle.
This follows a petition from the Association of Dependents of Veterans, which said the amendments are necessary to address hardships they endure, particularly those who lost both parents during the struggle for independence.
The petition notes that the dependents were under 18 at the time of independence, but when the Act came into force, they were already around 30 years old, thus not qualifying under the law's definition of a child of veterans.
According to the committee’s Kletus Karondo, the committee engaged with the veterans ministry regarding the amendments.
He said although the ministry reportedly held several meetings with the aggrieved dependents, these have not been fruitful to date.
“[They] said the Act only makes provision for minors under 18 – hence it was a challenge for the ministry to take care of the needs of the dependents of war veterans over the age of 18. The ministry, through a Cabinet decision, instituted programmes meant to look into the plight of the liberation struggle [children] but that was challenged as unconstitutional,” the committee’s report states.
“The committee believed that the exclusion of the children of the struggle was an oversight of the ministry. 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 that were in exile.”
Court challenge
In 2021, the former Ombudsman and Khorixas Youth Forum dragged government to court over Cabinet's decision that the Children of the Liberation Struggle (CLS) must be employed in the public service without being put through a recruitment process.
Then Ombudsman advocate Johan Walters asked the High Court to declare that Cabinet had acted beyond its powers and that its decision is unconstitutional.
Walters also demanded that the Public Service Commission, Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa Amadhila and secretary to Cabinet George Simataa be restrained and interdicted from continuing to implement the decision.
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This follows a petition from the Association of Dependents of Veterans, which said the amendments are necessary to address hardships they endure, particularly those who lost both parents during the struggle for independence.
The petition notes that the dependents were under 18 at the time of independence, but when the Act came into force, they were already around 30 years old, thus not qualifying under the law's definition of a child of veterans.
According to the committee’s Kletus Karondo, the committee engaged with the veterans ministry regarding the amendments.
He said although the ministry reportedly held several meetings with the aggrieved dependents, these have not been fruitful to date.
“[They] said the Act only makes provision for minors under 18 – hence it was a challenge for the ministry to take care of the needs of the dependents of war veterans over the age of 18. The ministry, through a Cabinet decision, instituted programmes meant to look into the plight of the liberation struggle [children] but that was challenged as unconstitutional,” the committee’s report states.
“The committee believed that the exclusion of the children of the struggle was an oversight of the ministry. 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 that were in exile.”
Court challenge
In 2021, the former Ombudsman and Khorixas Youth Forum dragged government to court over Cabinet's decision that the Children of the Liberation Struggle (CLS) must be employed in the public service without being put through a recruitment process.
Then Ombudsman advocate Johan Walters asked the High Court to declare that Cabinet had acted beyond its powers and that its decision is unconstitutional.
Walters also demanded that the Public Service Commission, Prime Minister Saara Kuugongelwa Amadhila and secretary to Cabinet George Simataa be restrained and interdicted from continuing to implement the decision.
[email protected]
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