The Minister of Defence and Veteran Affairs, Frans Kapofi has urged his staff to use the available resources wisely as the budget is limited.

Kapofi made the call when he addressed the staff of the Ministry in Windhoek.

"I want to appeal to the comrades here, the CDF and ED to make sure that at least we must restrain and live within our means because there is no way we can get more than what we get. GRN is trying but the resources are simply not available. So far the government has been able to make sure that the ship is afloat but it is expensive and I need prudent utilisation of our resources."

The minister also touched, on discipline within the force adding that patriotism, exemplary behaviour and loyalty are must-have traits.

"You can have very well-equipped people, well-trained soldiers, but if your soldiers are not disciplined, you will not be able to achieve the objectives. Discipline also requires our behaviour to be exemplary. You are a soldier on duty but you are stealing ammunition and guns to sell."

Kapofi also told the employees working with veterans to try and resolve their issues on time.

In 2022, 532 veterans were paid N$170 000 each, amounting to N$91 million. However, there are still a lot of veterans who have yet to receive their benefits. 

"We are not discriminating because we cannot pay everybody at the same time. Even when they were registered, they were not registered at the same time. My colleagues just have to be patient, I know it's hard, it's not easy to wait but what else can we do? The priorities of GRN are so many. COVID-19 took up a lot of resources, we have other pressing issues of education and health. The resources to address all these come from one source."