Govt embarks on process to verify military veterans

The Department of Military Veterans will resume verifying military veterans that were not part of the integration process during the formation of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in 1994.

This is set to take place at the Braam Park Building in Braamfontein, Johannesburg, from Wednesday and will focus mostly on the former Non-Statutory Forces (NSF) members.

These comprise of members of the Azanian National Liberation Army Military Veterans Association (AZANLAMVA), Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) as well as the Azanian People's Liberation Army Military Veterans Association (APLAMVA).

"This verification exercise constitutes an important part of the core mandate of the department, to amongst others have an accurate database with the necessary integrity and reliability," said the Director General of the DMV, Tsepe Motumi, in a statement on Tuesday.

Motumi said there should be no room for fraud and corruption when the department begins to roll out the social and economic benefits to military veterans and their dependants in this coming financial year.

"Accordingly, we will be working with a sense of urgency to ensure the finalisation of the verification process and the consolidation of the entire database on military veterans," he said.

The department has established a verification panel of five members from the former Non-Statutory Forces to execute the verification process.

The panel is composed of five members and is chaired by a retired Major General E.M. Mashoala.

Thus far the department has a database of about 56 000 and is also in the process of cleaning up that data working in concert with the Statistics South Africa.

For more information on the verification process, call +27 (0)800 2010 63.