Defense and Military Veterans: Minister's Budget Vote Speech

Minister Of Defence And Military Veterans, Lindiwe Sisulu gave her Budget Vote Speech on the 17 May 2012
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Ministers and Deputy Ministers
Honourable Members
Invited guests
Ladies and Gentlemen
 
I know now what Marcus Brutus felt when, in urging his comrades to seize a fleeting opportunity in an armed conflict, he uttered the immortal words:

There is a tide in the affairs of men
Which, taken at the flood, leads on to fortune;
Omitted, all the voyage of their life
Is bound in shallows and in miseries.
On such a full sea are we now afloat,
And we must take the current when it serves,
Or lose our ventures. (IV.ii.269–276)
 
I do not only relate to this intellectually – I have been there and I can attest that we took the tide at its height. After a number of difficult decisions, buttressed by a great deal of hard work, we can report to the soldiers and the country that we are now “on such a full sea, we are now afloat”.
 
Chairperson, we dedicated this year to our Military Veterans. Men and women who have delivered us to this place in history. This year, we celebrate the 50th year of the formation of the largest non-statutory force, Umkhonto we Sizwe, whose enormous sacrifice we will ensure is never removed from the minds of our people. We celebrate an even more eventful occasion, that of the 100th anniversary of the Ruling Party, the African National Congress, which, by some strange coincidence is also the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Defence Force of South Africa, under whose banner WWI and WWII was fought and under whose banner our men lost their lives when the SS Mendi sank, taking down with her some 616 men, who died singing. Singing the selfsame song, no doubt as Solomon Mahlangu would have sung as he ascended the gallows in Pretoria, paraphrased, “I die that my sacrifice and my blood should feed the tree of freedom”.
 
My staff and I are very privileged that we live to witness, when historical events conspire to remind us of the enormous responsibility that history has imposed on us, the current generation.  This is our “burden of the present”. But we will make sure that we rise to that responsibility. The tree of Freedom did indeed blossom and now we have a Defence Force that is united in its goal. On 27 April 2012 the South African National Defence Force came of age. We turned 18.
 
This budget vote is dedicated to all those who sacrificed their lives to bring about the democratic South Africa that we all live in and enjoy. This is a dedication to our military veterans and in particular, former President Nelson Mandela as the first Commander in Chief of uMkhonto we Sizwe and the first Commander in Chief of the South African National Defence Force of the democratic dispensation of this country.
 
To the founding fathers of uMkhonto we Sizwe, such as Chief Albert Luthuli and O R Tambo. To the Rivonia trialists and in this case particularly Mr Andrew Mlangeni and Ahmed Kathrada. To the uMkhonto we Sizwe Commanders of the Luthuli Detachment, who fought two wars with the Rhodesian Forces.  To Joe Modise, the first Minister of the South African National Defence Force. To Chris Hani, our Moses who lead us home, but did not live to see the promised land. To all our Military Veterans.
 
The vision of the Defence Force of our country has been inspired by such luminaries and thus we celebrate their unwavering vision of the creation of that which we are.
 
Ordinary people, accomplishing extraordinary things, creating an extraordinary country. South Africa owes a debt to her veterans that can never be repaid. Winston Churchill’s words about the Battle of Britain come to mind at this point, “Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few.” 
 
During my address to this House last year, I indicated that the whole of this year would be dedicated to our military veterans.  We have and continue to live every day of the year in their honour and have sought to reflect our gratitude in what we do.  May they know that in our hands the democracy we fought for is safe, our soldiers are disciplined and well taken care of. In our hands their dreams of a brighter future will be realised for generations to come.
 
Chairperson, today we come here to report to the people of South Africa on the progress we have made. It was in the detailing of this progress that even I myself was amased at the ground we have covered.
 
The first commitment I made to the Defence Force on assumption of duty as Minister of Defence and Military Veterans was the creation of a new dispensation that would ensure a better life for our soldiers. Today I will report that the dispensation is in place.  Today I will also report that the Defence Force is once again a disciplined force. Today there is no stain to the integrity of the Defence Force and that is how it should be, because they are the absolute and final guarantors of democracy. 
 
As a Defence Force we run an organisation of people whose very uniform is an indicator of that which is the best in our society.  I am very proud of my soldiers. When they erred I did not hesitate to put my foot down. When they do good, I am proud that South Africa has the kind of people we have in them.
 
At this point I would like to pay tribute to those who work hard to help me shape the Defence Force’s image and professionalism and make them the pride of the country.
 
I welcome to Parliament General Solly Shoke, appointed as Chief of the South African National Defence Force by the Commander-in-Chief in May last year, as well as three new members of the Military Command, ie Lt-Gen V R Masondo, Chief of the South African Army, Lt-Gen T M Nkabinde, Chief of Human Resources and Lt-Gen J T Nkonyane, Chief of Logistics. Together with the rest of the Military Command they are doing a fantastic job!
 
I also welcome into our fold Dr Sam Gulube, the new Secretary for Defence who was appointed in December last year. And already sterling work has been done and in particular our audit projection is looking good.
This is the new senior addition to the team that has worked tirelessly to give me the honour to say: “we serve beyond the call of duty”.
 
We can also report that we now have a new institution in the Defence Force called the Military Ombud. Lt-Gen (ret) Temba Matanzima, a long serving career soldier who was sworn in as our first Military Ombud on Monday 14 March 2012 and will now become a civilian for the next seven years.
 
We are joined today by some of our young stars who have distinguished themselves as firsts in their own areas, charting a new path, bringing hope.
 
1. Captain Nandi Zama is the first female aircraft Commander on the CASA 212 to be a display        pilot. She is also the first female Commander to deploy operationally across our borders.
2. Lieutenant  Tessa Du Toit is the first female Navigator on Hawks.  She is also the first female navigator on SAAF fighter aircraft.
3. Lieutenant Tiro Tsotetsi is the first person in the history of the SA Air Force to be awarded all four floating trophies presented to top students at the last Wings Parade graduation for the SAAF’s Basic Flying Training Course.  Lt Tsotetsi comes from Vosloorus, a township in the East Rand Johannesburg.
4. Major Catherine Labuschagne is the first female Gripen pilot.
5. Commander Handsome Thamsanqa Matsane, is the first black Submarine Commander, from dry and arid Mpumalanga to Commander of the seas.
 
This is a sample of what we are in the Defence Force. Our future, our pride, the embodiment of our vision.
 
Which leads me to the main thrust of our address today. We will give you the vision of the Defence Force for our country. While the President in the State of the Nation explained the country’s vision for economic growth through infrastructural development, we will provide you with our vision of the security infrastructure that will underpin defence of the country, support economic growth in national interest and protect the country against its severest silent threat: unemployed youth.
 
Our vision is to provide a competent, committed soldier, with unquestionable patriotism, a soldier whose goal is to serve and to serve with pride, beyond the call of duty.  The soldier will be supported by a competent machinery that will make it possible for him to intervene and protect against all threats. Our vision is to raise the profile of the nobility of the role a soldier plays in our society and to ensure that society understands and gives back in equal measure respect and gratitude for his work.  The vision of a soldier who will take his place and play an important role in the economy of the country, to ensure that we can truly say we are creating a better and safer life for all.
 
Our vision is of a soldier who is contracted by the State, understanding his full responsibility to the Constitution that requires him to be disciplined. And a State that in return will commit itself to ensuring that the soldier is looked after, within the means available, in equal measure as we demand of him to give to the State. In recognition of the fact that a soldier is in a profession that takes away some of his rights, the State will commit itself to ensuring the soldier is protected and works in an environment that ensures his dignity, that ensures his growth and development and his total well-being is catered for.  That his work is recognised and honoured, that the Defence Force becomes an employer of choice and prestige.  A soldier who takes part in the development of cutting edge technology.  A soldier who will serve with pride in Africa, raise our flag high, saving lives and creating a better continent.
 
We, as representatives of the State will in turn commit ourselves to giving back what we demand of the soldier. We have created a different dispensation to enable us to do that. We have now concluded our study of this new dispensation, having used the Interim National Defence Force Service Commission to benchmark against international best practice and based on our own experience and research work done in our own environment.
 
We have taken a number of decisions which are enabled by the new dispensation which come into effect in this and the next financial year.
 
1. First: Salaries of soldiers will be adjusted to recognise years of service. Essentially we are de-linking salaries from rank.  Because of the sheer size of the Defence Force a great number of our soldiers are trapped in particular ranks with no prospect improvement of their salaries.
 
The Defence Force Service Commission is tasked to deal with this as a matter of priority.  We expect it will take 8 months for the work to be done, but by the next financial year the salaries of the soldiers will reflect all of that, within budgetary limits.  This will be a much needed breakthrough that soldiers have been burdened with. It is now within our sights. We are afloat.
 
2. Second: A soldier gives his entire time and life to the State. The State takes on the responsibility to look after him, as a unit of his family. The children of the soldiers are therefore our responsibility. When their mothers are deployed in the DRC or Sudan, we should ensure that the children’s welfare is not compromised. To that effect therefore, all children between the ages of 3 months to five years will be taken care of by the DoD, within the existing framework of free primary school care criteria for deployed soldiers.  Every base, every facility will have to provide Crèches or Pre-schools. Gone are the days when men were soldiers and women stayed at home to look after the children. We have a responsibility to free our women soldiers to pursue their careers in the same way as men have always been free to do that. The necessary policy to support this has already been drafted and approved. And therefore this takes effect this financial year.
 
3. Third: Every soldier will be able to convert his training into academic qualifications. We are restructuring our training programme to align it to SAQA’s requirements so that the totality of courses undertaken by soldiers would qualify as commensurate tertiary qualifications.
 
A system to ensure that all officers are academically developed as graduates will commence during the in-year.  The professionalisation of the officer through a learning path of Military Professional Education and Training will result in all young officers being in possession of a Bachelor’s degree by the time they are promoted to the rank level of a major by 2020.  Subsequently Joint Senior Command and Staff Programme graduates will attain a Post-graduate Diploma or Honours Degree that pave the way for Executive National Security Programme graduates to obtain Masters Degrees.  These degrees will be awarded through Institutions of Higher Education accredited by the Council of Higher Education.
 
This means that no soldier will leave the Defence Force, should they choose, unqualified.  He will leave with a certificate that can advantage the soldier, should he seek an alternative career. It also means that no Colonel will be without a certificate and no General without a degree. The cumulative training will not have been in vain and the net effect for us will be a professional Defence Force.
 
4. Fourth: Provision of high quality, reliable and right-sized accommodation for our soldiers’ accommodation is our singularly most urgent priority. It is for this reason that I have commissioned a Defence Estate Reforms Programme that will rationalise Defence estate and ensure that there is internal capability to plan, provide, operate and maintain all properties belonging to the Defence Force.
 
The final part of the implementation of the new dispensation will be the upgrading of living conditions of soldiers at all bases.  We intend to partner with both the private and the public sector to ensure a practical and effective approach of implementing the above programme. On Tuesday 15 May 2012, I met with leaders of the property development and construction industry to share with them the vision of the Ministry with regards to the provision of accommodation for soldiers, and the industry showed strong willingness to participate in this vision.
 
However, I need to stress that it is the responsibility of every soldier to ensure that the environment where they stay, represents their sense of pride. Soldiers are required to keep their bases in spotless condition. These are now our responsibility and we no longer have the excuse of blaming the Department of Public Works for broken windows.  The Officers Commanding would therefore have to structure the bases in such a way to ensure proper management of our properties and ensure that it is kept in conditions only soldiers can do.
 
5. Fifth: Soldiers sacrifice enough with the unique nature of military life and the financial hardship that sometimes accompanies their career.  There are numerous soldiers in the SANDF who unknowingly sacrifice their financial future in addition to all the other sacrifices they make by not investing in an essential asset of home ownership. 
 
A Housing Allowance Scheme will be tailor-made to suit the organisational uniqueness of the SANDF and a housing subsidy scheme will be investigated and implemented. A Housing Guarantee will be provided to all members applying to purchase property to the value of 20% of the Home loan. Currently members are negotiating interest rates with financial institutions for housing loans on an individual basis.  Financial institutions are giving interest rates based to individual members based on their financial profile.  We intend to negotiate a pact with financial institutoions where we as the employer can stand part guarantee to negotiate more favourable rates with financial institutions in a collective manner.
 
No soldier should ever again retire without a house and the asset it provides.
 
6. Sixth: As I have indicated, we now have a Military Ombud, the first of its kind in our country and the product of a law initiated by Parliament.
 
It follows therefore that another advantage to our soldiers is that the grievance procedure now includes the Military Ombud. Monday marked a remarkable moment in the history of our Defence Force when our first Military Ombud, Lt-Gen (ret) Temba Matanzima was sworn in. In our efforts to improve the conditions of service of our soldiers and streamline processes within the South African National Defence Force, we have come to conclude that the Office of a Military Ombud would meet our objectives. Through existence of the Office of the Military Ombud, we hope to harmonise the confluence between military discipline and recourse avenues for complaints and grievances appeals in a manner that is consistent with our democratic enlightenment.
 
We want to ensure that we have a healthy system for the soldiers.  Therefore all Officers Commanding, Chiefs of Services and Chiefs of Divisions have a responsibility that will be written into their annual performance agreements to ensure that the morale of soldiers is their responsibility. They are responsible for the well-being of the soldiers and answerable for that.  The Officers Commanding is responsible for the entirety of what a soldier experiences on his base.
 
7. Brochure
 
All benefits that accrue to the soldiers through this new dispensation are contained in a brochure that is being prepared for distribution.
 
Responsibility of the soldier
 
We are working on all these benefits for soldiers, but I want to remind them that for every benefit there is a responsibility. I want to remind them that the compact that I enter into with them on behalf of government is that they will be leading lights of society. I demand from them a service to the State that will honour the lives of those who paid the ultimate price for freedom.
 
In this new arrangement we enter into an agreement that after your training, each soldier will take an oath as embodied already in the Code of Conduct. Ordinary workers don’t take oaths, only soldiers do. By taking an oath we commit ourselves to being the calibre of soldier we have in the Defence Force.
 
Contribution to economic development
 
As I indicated earlier, we have a vision of a soldier who will take part in ensuring that he provides and supports the necessary infrastructure for  economic development, already well enumerated by the President. As part of that contribution, the Chief of the SANDF has initiated an investigation on how the SANDF can appropriately support the developmental agenda of Government with particular focus on rural areas. The dispersion of defence facilities leans towards an ability to interface with rural communities. In this regard I have approved a concept whereby the SANDF will use its footprint in rural and semi-rural areas in terms of units, land and spending of resources in conjunction with local communities, rural towns, provincial governments and other stakeholders to augment and catalyse rural developmental initiatives by providing nodal points or hubs from which community engagement, stakeholder co-ordination and structural requirements toward creating viable sustainable local economies can take place.
 
To give effect to this the DoD will have to revise the current procurement policy. The idea is to embed units in their local economies and thereby further strengthening the linkage between elements of the Defence Force and the communities within which they reside. This will be to the benefit of small and micro businesses as well as small scale commercial and emerging farmers in rural areas.   The SANDF involvement will be configured without adversely affecting their core business.  C SANDF will appoint a project team to develop this concept further in order to operationalise it as soon as possible.
 
We will use our bases as a foot print of development wherever we are. A few years ago the President had been invited by President Yoweri Museveni to hand over a facility that was used by MK soldiers to the Ugandan Defence Force. The SANDF and Department of Public Works had upgraded the facility to provide a clinic and a school for the local community situated around the base. The President turned to me to indicate that this was a remarkable benefit for any community living around a base and hoped we were doing it too. I was too embarrassed to tell the truth that we were not doing it. Now it is at the centre of our development programme. Wherever we are, we will ensure the community benefits from our infrastructure, our schools, our clinics.  We will empower them in training them for agriculture produce that we will purchase for our own use. We will upgrade our roads, opening up the rural areas to enjoy the benefits of development.
 
Maritime Security and its Importance for Economic Growth. 
 
I indicated to you that our Maritime Security Strategy will remain a priority for some years.
 
South Africa’s coastline spans 3 000 km, in 3 oceans, located on a major strategic shipping route. Almost 80% of the country’s trade volume is by sea. We also have extensive off shore interests, namely islands, marine and offshore oil and gas resources. Our ports are visited by 12 000 ships per annum, carrying 200 million tons of freight (both imports and exports and R37 billion is spent per annum on maritime transport.
 
Our Department has recognised this threat against the notion of innocent passage and the freedom of the seas, and its concomitant effect on commercial trade, and therefore has been instrumental in the development and subsequent ratification of the SADC Maritime Security Strategy on the 9 August 2011 by the SADC Heads of State.
 
This is by far the most advanced Naval Strategy that this continent has been involved in. So comprehensive is our maritime security strategy that we have been able, within the shortest possible time, to respond to a request by the Department of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries to assist in performing the shipping management functions of the DAFFS fleet of vessels with effect from 1st April 2012.

The economic spin-offs from our maritime strategy are amazing. They range from preserving the livelihood of our fishermen to lowering the costs of doing business through our ports, to the creation of a ship building industry in our country, to name but a few.
 
National Youth Service
 
In my 2010 budget statement I reminded Parliament about the long-standing policy directive to develop a National Youth Service which would provide support to our youth whose normal social, skills and competence development as well as the development of national pride, loyalty and patriotism were disrupted by successive apartheid regimes.
 
Without going into the finer detail at this stage, I am pleased to announce my decision to provide leadership for the development of a National Youth Service as a legally constituted and regulated non-militaristic youth development service which will collaborate and cooperate with all public and private institutions committed to youth skills and competences development. I have also mandated the SANDF, primarily because of its national footprint, logistical and communication capabilities, to develop administrative capability to ensure the effective implementation of the National Youth Service.
 
The proposed National Youth Service is intended to play a key role in dealing with the consequences of youth unemployment and to the national goal of poverty eradication. The service will not offer training for military engagement, but will draw on the potential of military training to promote discipline, self-esteem, confidence and a sense of belonging to the national community.
 
Much of this concept of the National Youth Service is borrowed from the Tanzanian model, which has worked for Tanzania for the last 30 years. This is a bold step we are taking and I would like Honourable Members to consider this invitation.
 
We have currently embarked on the identification, upgrading and refurbishment of some of our training facilities. At the beginning of next year we will have completed our preparations and here comes the part I have been waiting for: We will take 20 000 unemployed youth and turn them into disciplined, empowered young people. 
 
SANDF Reserve Force
 
We are progressing in transforming and revitalising the Reserve Force.  At the end of the previous financial year, the total Reserve Force strength was 26 851 of which 15 316 were called-up during the year. This call-up constitutes a record since 1994. In the previous year (FY 10/11) only 12 300 Reserve Force members were utilised. Continued utilisation of Reserves in both external and internal operations is increasing and the Reserves are being called-up for Peace Support Operations (PSO), Border Protection, training camps as well as staff duties.
 
            The University Reserve Training Programme (URTP) is currently being implemented by the Services at various tertiary institutions. The main purpose of the URTP is to select and train quality students with leadership potential with the objective of enhancing the professional skills of junior leaders in the SANDF for both the Reserves and the Regulars. The first group of 56 URTP students trained by the SA Army completed their Basic Military Training (BMT) in the Free State in January and proceeded to do Officers’ Formative Training in April 2012. All the Services have successfully recruited students from the universities of Witwatersrand; Pretoria; Cape Town; Stellenbosch; Western Cape and Cape Peninsula University of Technology. These students will commence with basic military training next year.  
Defence Review
 
We have now concluded a draft of the Defence Review. This has been the most extensive engagement that ha ever been undertaken by the Minister of Defence in this country. The public interaction on the Defence Review will be concluded in August 2012, which will be followed by a 4 day retreat in September 2012 with all stakeholders to ensure that the process is as collaborative as possible. I do not foresee many disagreements, because I want it owned by all stakeholders. Should there be any real contentious issues, I will consult on the matter and make a decision on the direction that we will take.
 
I believe some Honourable Members have been making lame threats that they will write their own Defence Reviews. Banish any such childish tantrums. The Defence Review is the Constitutional responsibility of the Minister of Defence.
 
The Budget
 
The current budget is made under a global economic environment that continues to be robust and uncertain, resulting in pressures being exerted on Defence budgets across the world. This requires that we continue to seek to achieve higher levels of efficiency in all our operations and more precise targeting towards the achievement of our key priorities. While this is the case, it is also important to emphasise that the Defence budget cannot afford to take further cuts thereby shrinking the proportion to GDP to levels lower that the current low levels of 1.2 % of GDP as this will impact negatively on our readiness. The discussions and proposals that are being made as society debate the Defence Review document should assist us in determining the direction we need to take and therefore the related resource allocations going forward.
 
The current budget allocation for the 2012/13 financial year is R37, 5bn up from last year’s adjusted allocation.  It is expected to grow to R39, 9bn in 2013/14 by 6.5% and reach R42332.1 in 2014/15 up by 6%. Changes to the baseline over the MTEF period include R749.2 million for borderline control, R23 million for the establishment of the Office of the Military Ombud and R600 million for the completion of the strategic defence procurement programme. 
 
I need not state the obvious that every literate South African  now knows that the budget falls far below the requirement that we wanted to cover all of our borders resulting in a need to prioritise key areas and develop strategies that will ensure we are able to deter and prevent illegal activities in these areas. 
 
Progress on asset management audits
 
I have had the occasion to brief the Portfolio Committee on Defence on our Audit Outcomes. We expect the Auditor-General to release the full audit in June 2012 and have no intention of killing anyone (except maybe the Honourable Maynier). There will be no Defence blood on the floor. We have done exceptionally well on our Operation Clean Audit. Once we have declared ourselves out of the qualified delinquent status, w2hich we know will be soon we’ll enter into serious negotiations with National Treasury about the increase of the Defence budget.  No Defence Force anywhere in the world, who has the responsibilities that we have, is as under funded as we are. We need to ensure that we are efficiently funded.  Our value to the State in the defence of this country is the factor that should determine the size of our budget. In the past, governments’ priorities determined the budget, now it is about the value of the investment to the State.
 
We have tirelessly spent the last three years to show that we use state resources responsibly.
 
Finally, as a sign of gratitude to my soldiers, it is my pleasure to announce the payment of a R2 000.00, non-pensionable and non-recurrent once-off appreciation allowance per member to deserving members of the Department of Defence, excluding those who fall in the category of Senior Management Service and other categories based on a set of qualifying criteria, who contributed to the various successes that were achieved last year. This is a payment to convey my, the government and the country’s gratitude for a job well done by officials of the Department of Defence. The payment will be made to the members by the end of the month.
 
 CONCLUSION
 
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the outgoing Interim National Defence Force Service Commission for the sterling work they have done since their inception in 2009. What started off as a short-term, interim appointment, lasted for almost 3 years. They took the shortest possible time to get to grips with the issue at hand and steered the ship while we ensure the necessary legislative measures are in place for the establishment of the National Defence Force Service Commission. Cabinet appointed the ten Commissioners of the National Defence Force Service Commission yesterday and it is anticipated that the Commission will commence with its responsibilities to advise me on the conditions of service of soldiers on 1 June 2012.
 
Another thank you has to go to the Nomination Panel headed by Mr Ralph Mgijima, the Defence Review Commission headed by Mr Roelf Meyer and Maj-Gen Roy Anderson for heading an internal Task Team that reprioritised the Department’s budget and assisted us to manage it in such a way that we saved quite a bit. Thank you very much for giving your time to the South African National Defence Force.
 
I would also like to thank Lt-Gen Carlo Gagiano, who will be retiring as Chief of the Air Force at the end of September 2012.  He has served with distinction, an officer and a gentleman in every sense of the word. A man of honour who, when things went wrong in the South African Air Force, knew that he would pay the ultimate price when he offered to resign last year and I refused to accept his resignation.  I need to repeat – he is an officer and a gentleman. Thank you General. We hope you will accept to stay in the Defence family.
 
Our recent peace-keeping success in the DRC elections is only comparable with the success that the Defence Force achieved in 1994. Special medals will be handed to Lt-Gen D Mgwebi, Chief of Joint Operations, Maj-Gen W Nkonyeni and the rest of the soldiers for the outstanding work they did to ensure that elections took place in that country and civil war averted.
 
The Defence Review is before you. Exceptional in-depth research has been done, the rest is up to us all – South Africans have the opportunity to shape the future of our Defence Force.
 
Allow me to keep the best news for last. All of us have enough reason to be extremely proud of our men and women in uniform. They have outperformed themselves in many spheres, both locally and outside the borders of the country.
I thank you

Speech By Deputy Minister Of Defence And Military Veterans, Thabang Makwetla On The Occasion Of The 2012 Defence Budget Vote, 17 May 2012

Chairperson, Honourable Members of the Defence Portfolio-Committee and the House at large,
Dignitaries and distinguished stake-holders in the Public Gallery, Rolihlahla Nelson Mandela says, “There are many who did not understand that to heal we had to lance the boil. There are many who still do not understand that the obedient silence of the enslaved is not the reward of peace which is our due. There are some who cannot comprehend that the right to rebellion against tyranny is the very guarantee of the permanence of freedom.”

Over the past twelve months our Ministry has continued the push to establish a dedicated, efficient organization to look after military veterans, namely the Department of Military Veterans. The endeavour by government to intervene in addressing the plight of military veterans is arguably among the Ministry’s foremost political priorities in the current government administration.
           
Returning to the same subject again later Nelson Mandela said,
“Reconciliation was not an afterthought or an add-on of our struggle and our eventual triumph. It was always embedded in our struggle. Reconciliation was a means of struggle as much as it was the end goal of our struggle.”

Honourable members, the ministry is pleased to report that parliament has subsequently passed the Military Veterans Bill and it was assented to by the President and promulgated into law in December 2011. I personally wish to thank Committees of both Houses for the work done in cleaning this legislation for approval by parliament. Its commencement date has since been proclaimed as the 1st April 2012.

Chairperson, the Department is committed to delivering the benefits as espoused in Section 5 of the Military Veterans Act, and will do so progressively to those eligible for such support. To this end, draft regulations to inform the implementation of this Act will be brought to parliament before the end of the second semester.

We wish to call on sister departments in the Social Development Cluster to help expedite the finalisation of suitable modalities for the roll-out of these benefits, which their respective departments are responsible for.

Honourable Members, last year we undertook to ensure that a fully functional department is in place. By the end of March 2012, 27 senior posts mainly, were staffed and further appointments have since been made. It is worth mentioning that we will require an amount of R56 million to be able to staff all the posts that are in the structure/organogram of the department, which in itself is already more than the entire budget of the Department of Military Veterans in this financial year.

The pace at which the department’s structure is being populated is still, not satisfactory, not withstanding the assistance solicited from the Human Resources Division of the Department of Defence (DOD) in this regard.

Chairperson, to use the language of the community which bore me, “re sila re hlatlegile” meaning in military language that we are firing the gun as we are reloading it, or we are using the gun and manufacturing its ammunition at the same time. Time is of the essence. The needs of the military veterans are a matter of extreme urgency. As we are busy raising the structure of the Department of the Military Veterans from the ground, every week another soul from within the community of military veterans passes on, again missing the opportunity as government, to rectify the injustice this represents.

Honourable Members, in rolling out the benefits intended for military veterans, the department has prioritized all military veterans of advanced age. In the previous financial year, we had already provided them access to all our military health facilities. This preferential rolling out of relief has now been extended to housing needs and support for dependants who are of schooling going age.

In this regard, the process to pay school fees for approximately one hundred and thirty (130) dependants of military veterans is underway.
Approximately two thousand five hundred (2, 500) military veterans have already been loaded on South African Military Health Services (SAMHS) system. Health care access cards have been issued to ‘ensure just in time’ health care services to all cohorts of military veterans. To monitor this service, military veterans’ help-desk will be introduced at all the Defence Force health facilities.

Honourable Members, as the ministry, we must take this opportunity again to call on all military veterans to take serious the need to assist the Department in verifying that they are still alive and what their needs are. I also wish to thank those military veterans who presented themselves at the military bases which were used as our centres during the first round of the data-capturing in December last year.

Another round of this exercise is planned for this month and the dates will be made public as soon as preparations have been finalized. In this regard, I wish, on behalf of the Department of Military Veterans to apologise for any inconvience that may have been caused by the glitches in our preliminary plans, and in the same breath, to commend those who participated, for their patience.

Honourable Members, the process of cleaning the data-base of our military veterans is crucial to the overall success of this government policy on military veterans. Should we fail to be diligent in doing it, we run the risk of either leaving out intended bona-fide recipients or allowing fraudulent abuse of this policy intervention by unscrupulous selfish individuals.

It is for this reason that the Department has adopted a rigid attitude that only those military veterans who have came forward to verify the information on our data-base will be considered as we roll-out these benefits, to protect the credibility of this department in particular, and of government in general.

Chairperson, one of the impediments to the efforts mentioned above is the continued absence of the communications function in the already established branches and units of the Department. This strategic gap in our organization is the cause of the Department’s woes, be it in relationship to marshalling initiatives like the consolidation of the database, or the empowering of the community of the military veterans with information on developments they must know about. We have revised the original level of the leadership post of this directorate and plan to move with speed to fill it. In the interim, we have agreed to source external professional services to address this crippling weakness.

On this occasion last year we reported that we were in the process of assisting the South African National Military Veterans Association (SANMVA) to launch its provincial structures, and that five provinces were established already. We have subsequently concluded this process. SANMVA is a key institution in empowering military veterans with information about government activities aimed at helping them. Conceptually, it is important to point out that SANMVA in its role has beautiful contrasting colours like a zebra. It is both an organ of civil-society and a statutory body at the same time or it is neither an organ of civil society nor is it an agent of the state. Which suggests that tension between the two roles where it manifests itself, should not be treated as a crisis but a necessary contradiction to be constructively managed in the good of government on the one-side, and military veterans on the other. The department will, in keeping with the legislation, ensure that we provide the necessary assistance for SANMVA to succeed in both these roles.

Two other critical institutions in the furtherance of the government policy on military veterans will be established in the cause of this financial year, namely the Military Veterans Appeal Board and the Military Veterans Advisory Council.

Chairperson, Honourable Members in their composition the military veterans community and our South African National Defence Force (SANDF) consist of a significant segment of  people who are repositors of the legendary valour of courageous South Africans who despite being prohibited from acquiring military skills for all their lives, organized to challenge the might of the apartheid state militarily.

Some of these examplary patriots like Honourable Members, Andrew Mlangeni and Nelson Diale, who are also members of the Defence Portfolio Committee continue to occupy seats in this parliament as democratically elected popular representatives. December 16, last year marked half a century since the native populace of this country rose with arms in hand to assert their right to rebel against their oppressor with the formation of Umkhonto We Sizwe, the former military wing of the ANC. Shortly before, members of Poqo in the Eastern Cape, were arrested for the killings along the Bashee river. To mark the 50th Anniversary of Umkhonto We Sizwe, the SANDF will organize the Medal Parades where former members of this non-statutory force will receive medals to recognize their selfless service in the struggle for liberation and democracy in South Africa.

The first of this parades will be organized for on the 2nd of August 2012, the anniversary of the commencement of the Wankie Campaign in 1967 in the then Rhodesia by MK members of the Luthuli Detachment. Similar appropriate honours will be bestowed on other members of the non-statutory formations at appropriate occasions. Through the citations of these medals the Department of Military Veterans hopes to preserve this military heritage and memorialize its glorious actors.

Chairperson, the performance plan of the Department of Military Veterans in this financial year is indeed ambitious with respect to heritage, understandably so, because of the zeal to salvage the story of the soldiers who fought against apartheid before it suffers the injustice of being obliterated from our collective national memory.

To this end, the department will be collaborating with initiatives to establish tourism “Freedom routes” nationally and regionally under the South African Heritage Council (SAHC) and any other non-governmental organization involved in such endeavours. Important under the preservation of heritage this year, will also be work to find and restore graves of South African soldiers who were in liberation armies at home and abroad to restore their dignity. A common head-stone will be designed for this purpose. This will include the erection of cenotaphs in the former frontlines states where many freedom fighters parished, starting with the Memorial dedicated to the matyrs of the Matola raid in Maputo, Mozamabique in conjunction with the Department of Arts and Culture.

Chairperson, Honourable Members, it is with an immerse sense of anticipation and bewilderment that the Ministry has stumbled over a real opportunity to retrieve the full story and gain access to the legendary maritime tragedy of the sinking of the troopship SS Mendi just five years before we mark the centenary of this occurance. Since the fateful morning of the 21st February 1917, shortly after 05h00 next to the Isle of Wight in the English Sea waters, when SS Mendi with 823 men and officers of the 5th Battalion, South African Native Labour Corps (SANLC) bound for France sank, very little official attention was paid to this immense human tragedy both in South Africa and Britain. It drifted into historical obscurity. For much of the years since Mendi sank, it has been a story which, with few exceptions, has been largely forgotten in both countries.

As a Ministry we have made contacts with the English Heritage and the Wessex Archaeology which can give us a real possibility to:
Place the Mendi and those aboard her when she sank within the wider social and political context of both early 20th Century South Africa and the system of labour contigents that formed part of the war effort of the British Empire during World War 1 (WW1).
Consider the meaning of Mendi and its social and political context for United Kingdom (UK) and South Africa today, taking into account the different meanings of “place” that we are likely to attach to the wreck culturally.
Consider the importance of the wreck itself as a heritage site of significant international value as a war-grave under UNESCO.
Consider South Africa’s sole right over the wreckage and therefore investigate the implications of the vessel’s ownership.

Lastly, we can sponsor dialogue on what to do to the graves of the bodies which washed ashore in London that are in several cemetries there.

The MENDI Project will naturally be a flagship project which belongs to a broader programme of revising the policy of the Department of Defence (DOD) and the Department of Military Veterans (DMV) pertaining many military graves of South Africans which lie in countries across the globe arising from many varied conflicts of the past.

Chairperson, Honourable members, I wish to conclude my remarks by once again making visible the fact that the peculiarity of the South African government’s theory and practice on support for military veterans is bound to be underlined among others, by the heterogeneous background of its beneficiaries. It is our own concrete historical reality, its complexity must excite us rather than discourage us.

At the end, we must and will realize a dignified, unified, empowered and self sufficient military veterans community. Again, let us draw strength from ancient Chinese wisdom and remember that, “A journey of million miles starts with one small step.”
To return to the language that developed my thinking processes, “Tšhe ka moka ke mathomo mayo ke šaetša ke re yalo.”

Ke a Leboga