Angry war vets say president didn't keep promises

Angry military veterans gathered outside the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Monday afternoon to hand a memorandum of grievances to President Cyril Ramaphosa or Deputy President David Mabuza.

The military veterans, who want a better pension fund and bigger houses, among other demands marched from Pretoria central to the Union Buildings singing liberations songs. 

They refused to give Mandla Feni from the office of the president their memorandum, demanding that Ramaphosa or Mabuza accept the document personally.

“We are not happy at all with the president and now all the promises he made were a lie and everything that was supposed to be implemented was not,” said Mzukisi Ronyuza, national task team member of the Liberation Struggle War Veterans.

He said in November 2020, they had marched to the Union Buildings to hand a memorandum and in December of that year they met Mabuza and Ramaphosa and agreed that a task team would be appointed by the president to look into their grievances, headed by the deputy president. A technical task team would also be established to implement the resolutions of the presidential task team. 

“We are very disappointed that everything that was said at the meeting was not implemented and now we are reaching a deadlock because some agreements have not been implemented,” said Ronyuza.

He said they had managed to secure a R6,000 monthly military pension but that fell short of the R15,000 they had agreed to.

He said they wanted the restructuring of the department of military veterans to respond to their needs and if that failed then a ministry should be established. 

Ronyuza said one of the agreements that needed to be implemented had to do with education.

“Our kids are being kicked out of university and college because the payment which the government was supposed to implement [was not made]. We also need bigger and better houses.

“We are angry and our military veterans act is not comparable with our needs.”