Kazenambo right to rebuke ‘struggle kids’

YOUTH Minister Kazenambo Kazenambo’s reaction to the ambush laid by ‘children of the liberation struggle’ on his office this week was refreshing and honourable with lofty intentions which patriots would do well to applaud rather than criticise.

I have waited for this day for quite some time but many of the ruling party’s leaders have diplomatically avoided telling the children ‘in the face’ how they feel about their manners and attitude towards what Government is trying to do for many young people in the country.
Namibia has been independent for more than 20 years, enough time for some of those ‘struggle children’ to have lifted themselves from the misery they find themselves in – if they had really tried to do so and not waited for Government handouts.
Like many others, I recognise the contribution made by the parents of those young people in the liberation of Namibia. I am also fully aware of the fact that many of them had to start from scratch when they returned to Namibia in 1989 and that some did not even have basic documents like Namibian identity cards.
They faced a serious uphill battle in the struggle for identity and survival.
However, they have been riding on the ‘liberation struggle’ ticket for too long now.
So many other children also lost their parents in the struggle – some even within the country – while the past 20 years have seen many white children also marginalised in terms of things like bursaries, as Government intensified efforts to correct the wrongs of the past. Some are still paying for the wrongs of apartheid masters as they are denied certain rights through affirmative action and black economic empowerment policies.
Therefore there is no reason for the ‘children of the liberation struggle’ to be selfish and arrogant as they had been over the past few years. There are thousands of other black children who do not carry the ‘struggle’ tag, who are in the same boat as those who have been accommodated and fed at Berg Aukas – they have no jobs and no free food.
The group of eight who met Kazenambo on Tuesday claimed they had given him enough time (less than three months) since his appointment to act on their demands. The demands include jobs in Government and education opportunities for those who wish to study.
I found this to be unfair to the Minister but also very arrogant on the part of the ‘children’ – some of them already parents themselves.
Last year the Police were forced to use teargas on some of the ‘struggle kids’ in the North after they occupied a bridge as part of their demand for jobs. Others had also camped at various places such as in the centre of Windhoek for months.
Some of those from Berg Aukas are the same young people who last year, when Cabinet announced it has set aside N$2 million for them, said the Government could keep its money and instead give them jobs or bring their deceased parents back from the dead!
I have no objection when people demand their rights but the arrogance displayed by a small group of youth compared to the thousands who drop out of school each year and are left stranded due to lack of opportunities or many others who are discriminated against because of their colour must also be considered at the same time.
A few weeks ago Defence Minister Charles Namoloh announced that 600 of them would be recruited into the army. Many others had been given places in the Police while hundreds of others were taken up in Government.
Last year we were informed by the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Youth, Dr Peingeondjabi Shipoh, that the ‘struggle children’ could cost the Government up to N$300 million through jobs, education, training and assistance in becoming self-employed.
Last year Swapo Party Secretary General Pendukeni Iivula-Ithana said the struggle children must accept that they are part of a bigger challenge and that even some of the people who did not go into exile did suffer for Namibia’s independence.
Until now the struggle children have continued to cock a snoot, not only at Government but also at fellow youth who have been denied similar opportunities as well as law abiding citizens who respect laws such as not loitering in city centres and urinating in public!
Somebody needed to call them to order and Kazenambo was right in the way he did so.

* This article first appeared in The Namibian