Chamwe Kaira
Veteran welfare programmes disbursed more than N$1.3 billion in financial and social support during the year ended 31 March 2025, reaching over 40 000 service interactions across different schemes.
Under the monthly subvention grant programme, 22 840 beneficiaries received N$2 200 per month.
The beneficiaries include veterans of the national liberation struggle and their dependents. The programme recorded a total expenditure of N$566.27 million during the year.
The Improvement Welfare Grant for ex-PLAN combat veterans supported 9 729 eligible veterans. The programme paid out N$442.23 million in monthly allowances in line with veterans’ legislation.
Once-off gratuity payments were made to 906 beneficiaries at a cost of N$47.09 million. These lump-sum payments provide transitional relief and recognition to qualifying veterans.
The Individual Veterans Projects initiative supported 1 795 veterans with cash payments for project development. The programme disbursed N$305.15 million during the 2024/25 financial year. It aims to promote self-reliance and sustainable livelihoods.
Medical and psychosocial support also formed part of the assistance. Medical services benefited 51 veterans at a cost of N$1.21 million.
Support included visual and mobility aids, medication and treatment at private health facilities where state services were not available or where co-payments applied. Psychosocial services reached 111 veterans.
The department of veterans affairs also provided funeral support. It funded 440 burials through direct payments to funeral undertakers and offered financial assistance for a further 140 burials.
The department covered the cost of tombstones at N$16 000 each.
Service providers erected 388 tombstones, while another 503 were installed with payments made directly to providers.
Nineteen individuals, most of them veterans, received state-sponsored funerals during the year.
The cabinet-appointed committee responsible for the exhumation and reinterment of liberation struggle martyrs conducted an emergency inspection of graves in the Kunene region. The committee carried out a rescue operation and exhumed remains at Orue and Ondoozu villages.
