Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698747450280.pdf (Namibia)
REPUBLIC OF NAMIBIA INTRODUCTION OF VOTE 31: VETERANS AFFAIRS FOR 2016/2017 FINANCIAL YEAR BY HONOURABLE FRANS KAPOFI, MP MINSTER OF PRESIDENTIAL AFFAIRS 01 APRIL 2016 ' 1 Honourable Chairperson of the Whole House Committee, Honourable Members I am taking the floor to present Vote 31, Veterans Affairs for your kind consideration and approval.

Veterans Affairs was established to address the plight of veterans of the liberation struggle.
These are men and women who dedicated themselves and spend many years as freedom fighters to break the chains of apartheid colonialism.

The tyranny of apartheid forced thousands of our people into exile where they mobilized resources and obtained military training to confront the enemy.

On the home front, brave men and women put their own safety on the line and mobilized the nation to resist colonial occupation.
clothing, food, medical Workers, teachers, members of the clergy, doctors, nurses and other citizens worked fearlessly to provide care, information, transport, political mobilization and other forms of patriotic acts to achieve the objectives of the national liberation struggle under the leadership of SWAPO.

is fulfilling its obligation to put measures in place to provide Our Government in order to improve their social and economic assistance to war veterans conditions and to integrate them into society.
This August House has enacted legislation that regulates the recognition of veterans and the administration of the benefits to be provided to such veterans.

I wish to point out that providing assistance to veterans is not unique to Namibia.

It is an established tradition and practice in all post-war societies.
2 Veterans Affairs was allocated an amount of Eight hundred and sixteen Dollar four million (N$816,430,OOO) of N$771,268,OOO was allocated for operational budget and N$45,163,OOO as Development Budget.

and 2015/2016 hundred for Year.

An thousand Financial Namibia amount thirty It is befitting to note that during the 2015/2016 achievements were made, such as: financial year a number of • Identification and Registration of Veterans: 703 applicants approved, while 12,328 applicants were disapproved.
Since the registration process started, 29,677 applications for veterans status have been approved.

• Financial Assistance: 1 621 beneficiaries received once off gratuities or lump-sums, 2 088 beneficiary received monthly financial assistance and including former Robben Island and 888 Ex-Plan combatant veterans, Kaikanachab Prisoners received improvement welfare grants.

• Medical Assistance: 33 veterans assisted with various medical appliances and payment for medical treatment.
• Psycho-social counselling was conducted among veterans, which also included the spiritual counselling.

• Education and Training Grants: 231 Veterans and Dependants of Veterans funded to further their studies in the field of their choice.

• Funeral Assistance & Erection of Tombstones: Funeral assistance was provided towards the burial of 408 veterans; while 962 tombstones were erected.
• Resettlement: six farms which have been acquired benefitted 14 families and were rehabilitated in terms of stock fencing, water infrastructure and de-bushing.

3 • Construction of Veteran Houses: 98 houses have been constructed.

This brings the total number of houses provided to veterans to 232 thus far.

• Individual Veterans' Projects: 3910 Individual Veterans Projects were funded and implemented for veterans to uplift their livelihood.

To date, 9257 projects have been funded.


• Under Liberation Struggle Heritage: two sites, at Outapi and Omuthiya, were identified for the establishment of outdoor museums.

its mandate to register veterans and provide As part of socio-economic support to such veterans, many challenges were faced in the implementation of these service areas, which prompted Veterans Affairs to engage in Business Process Re- Engineering.
Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) is one of the reform initiatives being implemented in the Public Service in order to streamline processes and bring about efficient and effective service delivery to clients.

Veteran Affairs has decided to subject and "Individual Veterans Projects" to BPR.
of Veterans" "Registration Honourable Chairperson of the Whole House Committee Honourable Members implement Veterans Affairs will 2016/2017 Financial Year, namely three (3) programmes during the 01) Veterans Welfare Development; 02) Liberation Struggle Heritage; and 03) Coordination and Support Services 4 The allocation requested to implement is Nine hundred and ten million nine hundred and eighty seven thousand Namibia Dollar (N$910,987,000) as outlined in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework 2016/2017-2017/2018.
these programmes PROGRAMME 1: VETERANS WELFARE PROGRAMME The objective of this programme is to coordinate the designing, monitoring and evaluation of activities that are aimed at improving the welfare of veterans of the national liberation struggle.

Activities under this programme are as follows: Activity 01): Support package to veterans (Payment of monthly Financial Assistance).
An amount of Three hundred and seventy five million Namibian Dollar is requested for this activity in order to assist veterans and (N$375,000,000) dependants of the deceased veterans.
Activity 02): Education and Training Grant An amount of Twelve million nine hundred and seventy five thousand Namibian Dollar (N$12,975,OOO)is requested for this activity to provide financial support to veterans and their dependants who wish to further their studies or obtain vocational skills at institutions of higher learning to enable them to compete in the labour market and secure employment.

This will ultimately result in the improvement of their living conditions.
Activity 03) Funeral Grants for Veterans An amount of Twelve Million Namibian Dollar (N$12,OOO,000)is requested liberation struggle who for this activity to ensure that veterans of the national pass on are buried in a dignified manner.
5 Activity 04) Payment of Lump Sum Amounts Veterans Affairs is requesting an amount of Fifty Three Million Seven Hundred Thousand Namibian Dollar (N$S3,700,000) in order to pay a once off gratuity to veterans as a token of appreciation for their contribution to the liberation struggle of the country.

Once off payment is based on the year a veteran started his or her liberation activities.
Veterans whose activities as freedom fighters started between the period between 1959 and 1987 receive a lump sum of N$50,000, while those whose activities started in 1988 receive N$20,000 Activity OS)Veterans Association grant An amount of One million Namibian Dollar (N$l,OOO,OOO)is requested for this activity.

Section 44 of the Veterans Act No.2 of 2008 provides for an annual financial grant to the Veterans Association to enable them to carry out their administrative activities.
and Registration of veterans Activity 06) Identification Under this activity Veterans Affairs is requesting an amount of One million (N$l,lOO,OOO) for the purpose of one hundred thousand Namibian Dollar registering all veterans and dependents of veterans in order to produce a National Veterans' Register.

Registration of veterans will help Veterans appropriate Affairs interventions are devised, to address their plight.
to know the characteristics demographic so that Activity 07) Construction of Veterans Houses An amount of Thirty is requested for this activity to provide appropriate decent shelter to eligible veterans.
nine million Namibian Dollar (N$39,000,000) 6 Activity 08) Veterans Resettlement Programme For this activity, an amount of Twenty three million Namibian Dollar (N$23,000,OOO) is requested to procure and resettle landless veterans on thus generating income for farming units to engage in agricultural activities, self-sustainability as well as to contribute to the economy of the country.

Support and fencing for de-bushing, infrastructure will also be provided.
rehabilitation of water and the Activity 09) Individual Veterans Projects Veterans Affairs is requesting an amount of Two hundred and twenty eight this million Namibian Dollar in various economic activity is to fund Individual Veterans' Projects (IVP's) sectors including Agriculture, Hospitality and Property Development to the tune of not more than N$200,OOO.However, Veterans Affairs faces challenges of limited funds as more applications for project funding are being received on a daily basis.
(N$228,000,000).
The main objective for this programme Veterans Affairs Activity 10) Development Planning/Projects Management Programme Under Twenty three million eight hundred Dollar namely: and fifty one thousand Namibian to carry out the under mentioned Capital Projects, is requesting a total amount of (N$23,851,000) 10.1) Acquisition and construction of Offices for Veterans Affairs An amount of Nineteen million Namibia Dollar (N$19,OOO,OOO)is required for the construction of Regional offices accommodation for proper service delivery during 2016/2017financial year.
10.2) Veterans Recreational Facilities is Four million eight hundred The amount required for this capital project in order for Veterans and fifty one thousand Namibia Dollar (N$4,851,000) centres to provide necessary care, such as Affairs counselling and physiotherapy to veterans of the National Liberation Struggle.
to establish wellness 7 Activity 11) Medical Assistance & Counselling this activity is Seven million five hundred The required amount thousand Namibia Dollar of assisting veterans who are physically mentally and psychologically affected by the war of liberation.
(N$7,500,OOO) for the purpose for Activity 12) Appeal Board This activity requires an amount of One million two hundred thousand Namibia Dollars Namibian Dollar (N$1,200,OOO)for the activities of the Veterans Appeal Board in order to address the appeals of the disapproved aspiring applicants.
Activity 13) Conferment of National Status and Awards An amount of One million, six hundred and fifty three thousand Namibia and sitting Dollar (N$1,653,OOO) is required to cater allowances of members of the National Honors Advisory Committee on the Conferment of National Honors and Awards.
the meetings for Activity 14) Star Protection Services For this activity Veterans Affairs is requesting an amount of Four million five hundred thousand Namibia Dollar (N$4,500,OOO)which will be used on property development projects in order to generate income for veterans.
Activity 15) Improvement of Welfare for Ex-PLAN Combatant veterans, Former Robben Island and Kaikanachab Prisoners An amount of Sixty two million two hundred and forty seven thousand Namibia Dollar (N$62,247,OOO)is requested to cater for the improvement of welfare of the Ex-PLAN combatant veterans who are unemployed and those living with disabilities.

8 PROGRAMME 2.
8 PROGRAMME 2.

LIBERATION STRUGGLE HERITAGE This programme is aimed at ensuring that the history of the national liberation struggle is preserved and kept alive.

This is done through research and documentation, collection and preservation of materials or any artefacts, including the building of outdoor museums in all the regions, erection of the identification of sites where acts of the liberation struggle monuments, took place and marking them accordingly.

PROGRAMME 3.
PROGRAMME 3.

COORDINATION AND SUPPORT SERVICES Five activities fall under this Programme.

Activity 01) Capacity Building For this activity an amount One Million Two Hundred And Eighty Two Thousand Namibia Dollars (N$I,282,000) is requested in order for Veterans Affairs to enhance skills of its staff members through qualifying and non - qualifying training to enable them to provide quality service to veterans.
Activity 02) Monitoring and Evaluation For this activity, an amount requested is Two Hundred Thousand Namibia the payment of Dollars (N$200,000).

subsistence and Travelling allowance to staff members who will monitor progress and evaluate impact of programs and projects in order to device strategies to improve the implementation thereof.
The money will be used towards Activity 03) Veterans Sensitization information to The purpose of this activity is to sensitize and provide relevant veterans with regard to the benefits of veterans and programs of the Veterans this activity is Two Hundred Affairs.

An amount Thousand Namibia Dollars (N$200,000).


requested to carry out 9 Activity 04) General Administration Services Veterans Affairs is requesting an amount of Twenty One Million, Two Hundred and Six Thousand Namibia Dollar (N$21,206,000), which will be used for the provision of administrative support services to Veterans Affairs.
Activity 05) Personnel Expenditure An amount requested for this activity is Forty One Million, Three Hundred and Seventy Three Thousand Namibia Dollar in order to enable Veterans Affairs to manage and monitor remuneration expenditure, benefits and other personnel expenditure of the staff members.
(N$41,373,000) the three (3) Programmes To implement for Vote 31, Veterans Affairs is requesting the Honorable Members to support and approve an allocation of Seven Nine Hundred And Ten Million Nine Hundred And Eighty Thousand Namibia Dollar to enable Veterans Affairs to carry out as outlined in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework 2016/2017-2017/2018.

(N$910,987,000) its mandate I count on your support.

I thank you.

10