Question NW2411 to the Minister of Human Settlements
19 November 2021 - NW2411
Powell, Ms EL to ask the Minister of Human Settlements
(1) What criteria regarding (a) membership and (b) the legislative process does this department rely on in order to classify a potential housing beneficiary as a military veteran in terms of the Military Veterans Housing Assistance Programme?
Reply:
1. The criteria regarding
a) Memberships is informed by the 2011 Military Veterans Act, the Military Veterans Regulations Number 11 of 2014 and the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two Ministries to provide decent housing for Military Veterans.
According to Section 1(a) of the Military Veterans Act 18 of 2011,
"military veteran" means any South African citizen who (a) rendered military service to any of the military organizations, statutory and 15 non-statutory, which were involved on all sides of South Africa's Liberation War from 1960 to 1994; (b) served in the Union Defense Force before 1961; or (c) became a member of the new South African National Defense Force after 1994, 20 and has completed his or her military training and no longer performs military service, and has not been dishonourably discharged from that military organization or force: Provided that this definition does not exclude any person referred to in paragraph (a), (b) or (c) who could not complete his or her military training due to an injury sustained during military training or a disease contracted or associated with military training;
b) The list of potential beneficiaries eligible for the housing benefit is provided by the Department of Military Veterans on an annual basis. The list is signed off by the Accounting Officer/ Director General of the Department of Military Veterans after all verification processes from DMV are concluded and it includes both the statutory and non-statutory forces. The list is then captured on the Housing Subsidy System (HSS) and immediately thereafter dispatched to Provinces.