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REPUBUC OF NAMIBIA

BUDGET SPEECH
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THE MINISTRY OF VETERANS AFFAIRS,

VOTE 31, FOR THE 2010/2011 FINANCIAL YEAR

BY
Dr Nickey Iyambo, MP,

Minister
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Honourable Chairperson of the whole House Committee,

Honourable Members,

It is my distinct honour and privilege to introduce Vote 31 of the Ministry

of Veterans Affairs for the 2010/2011 financial year for debate and
subsequent approval by this August House. A total amount sought is
N$274,538,OOO.OO (two hundred and seventy four million five
hundred and thirty eight thousand Namibian Dollars). This amount
includes all the activities of the Ministry for development and operational
activities for this financial year.

The Ministry of Veterans Affairs was established on 4th October 2006 with
the mandate as per the order of the President, issued in terms of Article
32, sub-article (3) (g) of the Namibian Constitution, to initiate, promote,
coordinate and implement projects and programmes which address the
social-economic needs of the veterans, including keeping the history of
the national liberation struggle aive.

The above, would be achieved through a number of objectives aimed

towards re-integrating veterans of the national liberation struggle into the
overall economic mainstream of the country, the incorporation of a
weI/ness programme (HIV/AIDS), into the activities of the MoVA, ensuring
the availability of appropriate and relevant initiatives for veterans and
promoting the participation of veterans in the socio-economic main
stream of the country.
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Since Namibia's Independence, the Government initiated various

interventions to address the needs of veterans of the National Liberation
Struggle.
Therefore, all what is recorded in the vote 31, are some ongoing
activities, while others are to come on board. Some of the assistance to
the Veterans such as gratuity which is a token of appreciation, monthly
subvention, veterans projects, assistance towards water and electricity,
assistance to school dependants, hospital and free medical treatment,
transport, funeral benefit, land resettlement and housing are some of the
activities. Before the benefits of the Veterans can be paid out, all the
applications received are first scrutinized, and then approved by the
Veterans Board. Those aggrieved can go to the Appeal Board to seek
remedy.

Registration of veterans is a continuous process. Till today as we speak,

men and women of the liberation struggle are still flocking to the Ministry
and Regional Offices for registration. It is the intention of the Ministry not
to leave any member of the liberation struggle unregistered.

Honourable Chairperson of the whole House Committee,

Veterans have been living with all sorts of problems such as

unemployment, low income, ill-health, housing problems, landlessness,
poor or no schooling for their children, transport needs among others. It
is their expectations that now that the Ministry of Veterans Affairs has
been created, their problems would be solved within a reasonable period
of time.
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It is on this basis that the Ministry of Veterans Affairs, in an effort to

address the plight of the veterans, would undertake to carry out some
housing projects for the veterans. The majority of veterans, even those
who are working, could not afford to participate in the government
housing scheme due to the fact that when they started to work they were
already approaching their retirement age, while salaries of others are too
low. Therefore, financial institutions could not assist them to acquire
individual loans to build houses for themselves.

To address these problems the Ministry requires in future sufficient

funds for the implementation of these initiatives to cater for a large
number of veterans within a reasonable period of time, as we all know
that the majority of veterans are old and are passing on. Veterans are
desperate and have run out of patience nowadays. Whenever they make
enquiries to the Ministry, their last remarks are and I quote "Vakwetu
onaini hano hatu kuafua, omakuafo otaye tuhange ngoo?"

Honourable Chairperson of the whole House Committee;

I will now inform the Honourable House about the programmes and
projects of the Ministry of Veterans Affairs:

Programme 1:
Veterans Welfare Development Programmes - An amount of
N$258,066,OOO.OO (two hundred and fifty eight million sixty six
thousand Namibian Dollars) has been allocated.
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This programme was developed to coordinate, monitor and evaluate the

activities that are aimed at improving the welfare of veterans of the
national liberation struggle. Once implemented, the programme will lead
to the improvement of service delivery to veterans and hence improving
their quality of life as an outcome. The activities under this programme
are:
• Identification and Registration of veterans which includes the
maintenance of the Veterans Data Base;
• Support packages in the form of the monthly subvention,
prosthetics and mobility aids for the disabled veterans, cover of
medical/hospital treatment, psychological counseling for traumatic
veterans, capacity building for veterans and veterans children in the
form of assistance with education, funeral benefit and housing;
• Veterans Association. When the Ministry wlll acknowledge the
Association, it has to receive an annual grant to maintain the
Association;
• Evaluation of Veterans Assistance. The Ministry is to make an
assessment on how much effect the assistance has made on the
veterans in order to bring the perspective of the poor and vulnerable
veterans into decision process and as a result contributing to the
reduction of poverty.
• Development Planning/Projects Management Programme was
put in place to initiate, administer and manage the income generating
programmes and initiatives of veterans and their dependants and
identified by them or by the Ministry. The main aim of this
programme is to initiate income generating projects to improve
their income and livelihood. Therefore, the Ministry has taken the
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lead in initiating and developing the following Projects that will be

initiated and monitored by the Ministry such as:
• Carry out feasibility studies for projects for and by the veterans;
• Carry out agricultural projects both crop and livestock farming;
• Aquaculture farming projects both inland and coastal areas;
• Acquisition and construction of offices in all regions;
• Veterans projects through the Veterans Board;
• Construction of Veterans Houses and
• Veterans Tourism Projects.

Programme 2: Liberation Struggle Heritage Programmes - An

amount of N$16,472,OOO.OO (sixteen million four hundred and
seventy two thousand Namibian Dollars) has been allocated.
This will be done through undertaking projects on research, documenting,
storing, protecting and preserving the information and/or materials of the
liberation struggle. Repatriation of this material from other countries is
also included. The project will also include the identification of specific
areas where monuments, buildings or any marks in connection with the
liberations struggle can be erected as stipulated in section 3 of the
Veterans Act of 2008.

Honourable Chairperson of the whole House Committee,

Honourable Members,

Allow me once again to reiterate that veterans of the liberation struggle

are an integral part of our glorious history, and an embodiment of the
brave culture of resistance of our forefathers against colonialism. These
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veterans I have been alluding to throughout my speech are the people

who fought tirelessly to break the yokes of colonialism and who brought
about peace and stability we are enjoying today in this country. Some of
them died with arms in their hands, fighting the war of national liberation.
These were volunteers who put their lives on the line for the national
liberation of our mother land, Namibia. It was a cause worth fighting for.
I therefore kindly request you Honorable Members to approve our request
for the amount of N$274,538,OOO.OO (two hundred and seventy four
million five hundred and thirty eight thousand Namibian Dollars)
for the Ministry of Veterans Affairs for the 2010/2011 financial year.

I Thank You!