The Former Refugees Repatriation Association Namibia is demanding the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to release funds meant to repatriate over 43 387 refugees. Association president Mathues Nangolo says they want the same compensation the UNHCR gave to the Caprivi secessionists who were repatriated from Botswana to Namibia. “The Namibian refugees who were at Dukwe Refugee camp and were repatriated by the UNHCR from Botswana were given all kinds of assistance, they were resettled,” he says. He was speaking at a meeting between the association and UN resident co-ordinator Hopolang Phororo in Windhoek on Wednesday. Spokesperson Mathues Stefanus alleged the UNHCR has failed to implement its resettlement and rehabilitation programmes in Namibia under United Nations Resolution 435 of 1978. “What happened to the resettlement and rehabilitation budget of
Author Archives: Veripuami Kangumine
The Basic Income Grant (BIG) Coalition of Namibia protested against the government’s proposed basic income grant on Saturday. They say the grant excludes the majority of the population. This comes after the Ministry of Gender Equality, Child Welfare and Poverty Eradication began registering qualifying households countrywide for the conditional BIG of N$600 last week. BIG Coalition coordinator Rinaani Musutua says the government has not made an effort to collaborate with the organisation despite their advocacy for a universal and unconditional BIG for people for the past 19 years. “We are not happy with what the government is doing right now: excluding a lot of people in the country who are not eligible for that Haraambe cash grant,” she said. Musutua says the government should work with the organisation to find
The descendants of chief Hosea Kutako claim they have been excluded from an unveiling ceremony of the chief’s memorial homestead. The Memorial Museum and Homestead Shrine unveiling ceremony is scheduled to take place on Friday at Toasis in the Aminuis constituency, to commemorate Kutako’s role in Namibia’s liberation. Kutako, who died in 1970, petitioned the United Nations (UN) to remove the then South West Africa from South Africa’s rule. He also founded the South West Africa National Union (Swanu). Family spokesperson Kejamuina Mungendje says the Office of the President, which is organising the unveiling, invited a different clan of the family, despite his side of the family’s involvement with the shrine from the beginning. He says N$4 million for the shrine was donated by a German organisation through the government.