Cape Town - Deputy President David Mabuza has called for the ramping up of various socio-economic services to military veterans to address their plight.
Mabuza, who was addressing military veterans in the North West on Saturday, said the time had come to ensure military veterans receive all the services due to them.
He said when they raised complaints with government, President Cyril Ramaphosa had set up a task team to look at their problems.
Mabuza is chairing the task team on the military veterans and he has visited some of the provinces.
He said part of their work was to establish work streams that will deal with the issues at hand.
They were also working with other departments.
Mabuza also told military veterans that one of the hurdles has been overcome, after it was agreed that military veterans should start receiving pensions.
He said they remained an important pillar in the democratic dispensation as they fought in the struggle over many years.
“In the end, the plight of military veterans and their families, their prospects of ever enjoying the fruits of freedom that they helped to bring about lies on our commitment to support them. We are excited, honourable Premier, that finally obstacles that were preventing us from dispensing the necessary services to military veterans have been overcome.
“One service that has been a challenge was the pension rollout. I am glad to say we have overcome that hurdle. We have finally approved the pension rollout, which we think will go a long way to assist our military veterans. We want to see this pension being rolled as soon as possible, without delay,” said Mabuza.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
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