SOUTH AFRICA:THE SOUTH African government has decided to give at least €1.8 billion in social benefits to apartheid- era freedom fighters over the next five years despite claims by the main opposition party that the country cannot afford to do so.
During a parliamentary presentation on the impact of amendments to the Military Veterans Bill, deputy defence minister Thaban Makwetla warned that international experience had shown that a failure by governments to look after former freedom fighters could lead to instability.
Since South Africa’s transition to democracy in 1994, tens of thousands of Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) fighters – the African National Congress’s military wing – have found it difficult if not impossible to reintegrate into society after returning from exile, as they have little education and few possessions.
Left to live in squalid conditions and in many cases without employment, a growing number of former combatants believe their sacrifices had been forgotten by the ruling ANC party, which had promised to compensate them for their efforts to defeat the apartheid system.
However, ANC president Jacob Zuma continued to receive the support of the MK veterans’ association when he was campaigning to become South Africa’s president in 2009.
Now it appears the former soldiers are being repaid for their loyalty and support.
Last week a cost estimate of about €6 billion to pay for the benefits – which include medical, housing, transport and health benefits – was leaked to the media, uproar in some quarters.
However, Mr Makwetla yesterday said that figure would only come into play if all veterans qualified for all the benefits being considered under new legislation. It is understood that many former combatants are already in receipt of some benefits.
Responding to criticism from Democratic Alliance MPs that the benefits were not clearly broken down, Mr Makwetla said the country needed to decide whether it could afford not to take care of former combatants.
“Therein lies the question as to whether can we afford it? As any country, we’ll always have many problems. It is a matter which we decide as to which one of these problems we believe is important and therefore we must prioritise the meagre resources we have.”
Mr Makwetla added that Zimbabwe had waited for six years after the end of colonial rule to address the plight of former combatants there and that this contributed to the instability found there today.
“If we ignore the welfare of former soldiers, we may live to regret it,” he warned.