[ Home ] [ Speeches & statements ]

25 October 2008

It is a great pleasure to be amongst the people of your standing in our society today. Military veterans have become synonymous with democracy in our country; in that we cannot speak of the freedom of our people and omit to mention the vital role of the military veterans. We as the nation are forever indebted to you for the selfless sacrifices you have made that we may have peaceful democracy, and have freedom in abundance.

The untold conviction to leave your families and friends behind, and put forward the interest of the majority of the people of our country is heroic. Your determination to assume the front line position against the goliath oppressive forces remains noble. Together we must do all in our power to ensure that the significant role of the military veterans is not relegated to the dustbins of the history.

It is for this reason that government has established the Military Veterans Affairs through an Act of Parliament, Act No 17 of 1999. The Act calls upon us as the Department of Defence to fulfil the functions and responsibilities; it has set out in terms of empowering our military veterans and according them necessary recognition.

Government views the welfare of the military veterans in a very serious light; hence the President of the Republic is the Patron in Chief of the military veterans, as stipulated in the Act of Parliament no 17 of 1999.

As the department, we have identified clearly, the role-players and accordingly, we have prioritised projects for veterans, having taking into cognisant the various needs of our cadres.

Under the Act, the Department of Defence (DOD) through its Directorate of Military Veterans Affairs is mandated to interact with State Departments, Provincial Executive Authorities and all other persons, organisations or institutions, which are involved with Military Veterans Affairs to achieve the common objectives.

Indeed we continue to engage our sister departments, cabinet clusters, and social partners to come together in unity and seek the innovative ways to reward our military veterans.

I say reward; mindful that there are no instruments to measure sacrifices you have made. The value of your sacrifices is beyond any measure and can never be compared with any monetary value or currency.

You carry with you not only the reminiscences of weaponry and the stench of propellant during the dark days of the underground missions, but also the reservoir of how freedom came to being and how it ought to be defended. From your irreplaceable experience, our children will continue to draw valuable lessons.

In this regard I reiterate that government is aware that it cannot afford to lose the people of your calibre. I as the Deputy Minister of Defence I am conscious of the need to work closely with you.

Let me brief you about a number of programmes in place to respond to your needs.

Given our mandate to engage state departments and all-role players, we have had fruitful discussions with about 15 Government departments, provincial Governments and we have already initiated talks with 12 more Government departments that are yet to confirm dates for our meetings.

In our discussions with the Departments, we seek to establish how military veterans can benefit from initiatives such as the following:
* Business programmes
* Entrepreneurship
* Skills development and Training
* Health issues
* Employment
* Housing issues

I must say that we need continuously to meet with you to assess whether or not our efforts does respond to your needs. Accordingly, we should discuss on whether we must accelerate or review some of the programmes with the view to finding solution to the challenges faced by the many veterans.

Let me state some of the programmes that exist even here in the Eastern Cape.

King Hintsa Further Education and Training College:
* members trained and employed by the College
* members trained, and Placed on apprenticeship for refinement.

Black Economic Empowerment (BEE) farming co-operative:
* members have trained and received certificates
* members receive mentorship
* they have been upgraded to commercial farming
* intend to buy a building to start a factory.

Mil vets farming project:
* a small group on a leased land, and
* they cultivate vegetables, which in turn sell in the market.

Challenges:
* lack farm implements
* land threatened by soil erosion

Umkhonto we Sizwe young lions bricks co-operatives:
* local government has injected R500 000
* they manufacture bricks
* produce 1000 bricks a day.

Challenge:
* have teething problems.

Brig Gen Somdaka Project–Engcobo:
* individual initiative,
* selling smokeless stoves, and
* these stoves are selling.

Challenge:
* need funding.

Mk Charcoal Project:
* has initial injection of r500 000 from local government
* has built stoves to cook charcoal
* made of about 15x members
* project progressing.

Vegetable farming:
* the project consists of both men and women
* they produce a variety of vegetables,
* this has also created employment for youth

Challenges:
* needs injections of funds to grow it further
* need irrigation facilities
* need transportation of products.

Brick manufacturing–Qamata:
* individual initiative,
* produces about 4000x bricks a day,
* these already have a ready market, and
* project has reached a stage of a business.

Queenstown proposed projects:
* Ilinge, town made of former Robben Islanders
* MK MVA proposed a mini market with a fuel station
* one old lady proposed a tailoring project
* Ezebeleni members would like to establish an abattoir.

Most importantly, the Department of Defence, working with other departments such as Department of Labour has established re-skill training for veterans through the Safety and Security Sector Education and Training Authority (SASSETA).

This programme has ensured that military veterans embark on a new struggle for economic emancipation through skill acquisition for meaningful contribution to the country's growing economy.

The first phase of the training managed to train a significant number of veterans in all provinces focusing on teaching and learning of Adult Basic Education and Training (ABET) and other basic skills.

The second phase places an emphasis on the critical areas such as technical, entrepreneurial and artisan skills, amongst others. We need to hold hands to make phase two a reality.

This will ensure that veterans are constantly absorbed in the formal Labour market or capacitated to run their own businesses, thus contributing to eradication of poverty, creation of employment and growing the economy.

The Department of Defence believes that imparting essential skills to the military veterans will significantly contribute to the national skills revolution initiative. The Accelerated and Shared Growth Initiative of South Africa (ASGISA) aimed at growing the economy by six percent in 2010 and halving poverty by 2014.

This is just a few of the programmes that currently exist. I must however state that there is a need to do more. I wish to encourage dialogue between you and myself so that together we can find common solutions.

I thank you.

Issued by: Department of Defence
25 October 2008