WeeklySA_AdminPAYOUT DISPARITY: Military veterans’ body concerned that MK’s top brass will receive fat pensions by virtue of qualifications and high rank while lower-rank cadres get much less…
By Isaac Moledi
Government’s plans to pay military veterans pension benefits based on academic qualifications may disadvantage and alienate hundreds of former ex-combatants with lower education credentials.
This criterion has already caused anger and divisions among cadres of the liberation military wings of ANC’s uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), Azapo’s Azanian National Liberation Army (Azanla) and PAC’s Azanian People’s Liberation Army (Apla), who stand to receive lower pension payouts than expected, if government’s plan go ahead.
This criterion has already caused anger and divisions among cadres of the liberation military wings of ANC’s uMkhonto we Sizwe (MK), Azapo’s Azanian National Liberation Army (Azanla) and PAC’s Azanian People’s Liberation Army (Apla), who stand to receive lower pension payouts than expected, if government’s plan go ahead.
Addressing military veterans in Mahikeng in North West on May 14, Deputy President David Mabuza told a gathering of military veterans that they would finally receive their long-awaited pension payouts and other benefits as the obstacles preventing the government from doing so had been overcome. “I am glad that we have overcome that hurdle. We have finally approved the pension rollout which we think will go a long way to assist our military veterans,” he said.
But what the Deputy President appeared to have omitted to reveal at the veterans’ meeting was that the Government had factored a provision requiring the military veterans’ payouts to be paid according to qualifications, said Mdu Chiyi, national spokesperson of the Liberation Struggle War Veterans of South Africa (LSWV-SA).
Chiyi said their members were concerned that the government was working on the criteria without having consulted them. In terms of the government plan, cadres possessing matric qualification will receive 50 percent of pension benefits paid to veterans with tertiary qualifications, while those without matric will qualify for lesser amount.
Weekly SA Mirror’s attempt to obtain comment from the Department of Military Veterans (DMV) or the Deputy President was unsuccessful.
Chiyi said he was not surprised with Mabuza’s utterances which proved “the government’s intention to sideline LSWV” and proceed with the payout without representations from ex-combatants.
He rejected the mooted plan, saying government’s intention went against the letter and spirit of the agreements entered into by both parties about two years ago, before the breakdown of their negotiations with the Presidential Task Team led by deputy president Mabuza.
“We are really saddened by these actions as what the government has in mind is to go against the agreement contained in our consensus document, by making payouts without the input of the people affected.
“One other thorny issue is that the government does not say how much it is putting on the table. But paying the ex-combatants their pension benefit according to qualifications will exclude hundreds of military veterans who did not go to school when they joined respective liberation movements.
“Besides, people who will benefit out of the process will be ANC generals and commissars as well as members of former SA Defence Force and other military forces belonging to the Bantustans,” said Chiyi.
Chiyi said because of these frustrations, they have instructed their legal team, led by ANC stalwart and former treasurer Mathews Phosa, to be on the lookout for any pension payout or benefit to the veterans and interdict the process.
Chiyi said they had instructed the team to proceed with a “multi-billion” class action to compel government to compensate them for the sacrifices they made to liberate the country from the apartheid government.
In the legal brief handed to the organisation’s lawyers, which Weekly SA Mirror had seen, the LSWV-SA is demanding payment of long-outstanding pensions, reparations, special pensions, housing, educational and other benefits for putting the lives of military veterans on the line in their fight for democracy.
The LSWV-SA’s demands included:
• Reparations amounting to R4.2 million per veteran;
• Compelling government to pay them pensions amounting to R15 000 a month;
• Government asked to honour and comply with agreements made in the consensus document both parties had entered into about two years ago; and
• The review of the prejudices in the SA National Defence Force and the SA Police Service integration processes, as well as the presidential declaration on the plight of veterans.
Negotiations between the government team led by deputy president David Mabuza and the LSWV-SA stalled last October, after government accused the ex-combatants of holding hostage three cabinet ministers at a Pretoria hotel. The talks were aimed at resolving the military veterans’ long-standing grievances.
About 53 members belonging to the liberation war veterans’ organisation allegedly held hostage Defence and Military Veterans Minister Thandi Modise, her deputy Thabang Makwetla and Minister-in-the-Presidency Mondli Gungubele at the Saint Gorges Hotel in Irene after negotiations between the two parties broke out with the ex-combatants, who demanded an audience with President Ciryl Ramaphosa and his deputy.
But the case against the ex-combatants has since been dropped. They faced various charges, including conspiracy to commit kidnapping and 26 counts of kidnapping. Their case was dropped on Tuesday this week. The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) said the withdrawal of the case followed successful representations made by the accused’s defence team.
Although the LSWV-SA welcomed the NPA decision, saying that the prosecuting authority had vindicated their assertion that the case was based on “trumped-up” charges, the “confused and shocked” Makwetla could not fathom how the case was dropped. He said he had submitted an affidavit to the State explaining exactly what had transpired when 26 people, including himself, Modise and Gungubele and two body guards were held hostage for close to three hours. “Since the case involving our members has been withdrawn, why can’t the government call us to proceed with the negotiations as they initially pointed at the trumped-up charges to be one of the obstacles? We are the ones who initiated this process, and government cannot rule us out without negotiating with us,” says Chiyi.
