Defence force bill for veterans mounts - Training skills development

BusinessDay - Defence force bill for veterans mounts:

CARING for military veterans of the anti- apartheid struggle could cost the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) more than expected, says Deputy Defence Minister Thabang Makwetla .
This comes after a task team, set up by Defence Minister Lindiwe Sisulu to create an institution to cater for military veterans, received presentations from various groups asking that the plight of their former struggle heroes be addressed and their names added to the list of military veterans.
Makwetla, who is chairing the task team, says presentations have come from all segments of the community who were involved in the fight against apartheid.
Sisulu’s action is the result of a resolution at the Africa National Congress’s (ANC’s) Polokwane conference in December 2007. It claimed that the provisions of the Military Veterans Act of 1999 that established the veterans’ directorate in the Department of Defence were insufficient and did not cater for all veterans’ groups.
Makwetla says some people feel that the incorporation of various armed forces into the SANDF after 1994 may have left some liberation movement members destitute.
These include Umkhonto weSizwe of the ANC, the Azanian People’s Liberation Army — the military wing of the Pan Africanist Congress (PAC), and the Azanian National Liberation Army (Azanla) — the Azanian People’s Organisation’s (Azapo’s) armed wing.
Since Azapo did not recognise the outcome of the Codesa negotiation process, it forbade Azanla to be one of the liberation forces to be merged with the old SADF into the new national defence force.
While SANDF soldiers are catered for under normal human resource regulations, including pensions, these former struggle soldiers and others are facing unique challenges that the task team must consider.
Some soldiers from the old SADF, especially from units such as the South West African Territory Force and Koevoet — which fought in Namibia and Angola and were disbanded by the De Klerk government, want to be included as they regard themselves as legitimate soldiers of the state at the time.
“Then there are also armies of erstwhile TBVC states (Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda and Ciskei) that should need help,” says Makwetla.
“There is also a group which participated in and survived the two world wars and the Korean conflict that was unevenly compensated on various grounds including racism. They, equally, deserve recognition, like their peers,” he says.
“We are been called on to also look at how the state can help those who fought in the township conflicts — especially between what was described as Inkatha Freedom Party-aligned self-protection units and the ANC or United Democratic Front-aligned self-defence units,” Makwetla says.
“One expected that these issues were clearly defined and resolved during the integration process more than 10 years ago, but the task team does not wish to leave certain matters unresolved, with noises on the sidelines that could end up discrediting the process.
“We are revisiting these matters and finding out why there is still an outcry, and how they could be resolved once and for all,” he says.
With regard to the Azanla and Koevoet units, the task team would present its argument and recommendations to the Cabinet for a final decision. On various township defence units, a researched document would also be compiled and recommendations, based on social development necessities, would be submitted to the Cabinet. “Because they were not trained soldiers, they do not fall under the defence ministry,” he says.
Makwetla says in finding solutions that would alleviate poverty and improve the living conditions of former liberation fighters, the task team will seek to avoid creating an impression that the group is more privileged than ordinary poor South Africans.
“The team must strike a balance such that we do not create a problem of envy of soldiers from any military or political background by ordinary communities who fought tough battles in the townships against the apartheid security forces,” he says.
“This is a special situation about short-term needs that will be addressed with the help and the co- operation of other departments within the social development cluster such as human settlements, social development, health and even labour’s special skills training programmes,” Makwetla says.
Asked what was the likely long- term solution, he says the task team believes that all state soldiers will be adequately catered for “through an all-encompassing defence force human resource policy framework” that will look at building and securing their lives “from recruitment to retirement to the grave”.
Makwetla says a draft document addressing all these issues would be discussed at the stakeholders’ forum involving related state departments, non governmental organisations, policy institutions, civil society and parties next month.

This is what we have requested the Minister to recognize - Training veterans to build moladi houses...