Deputy Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Thabang Makwetla. Picture: Nigel Sibanda
The Department of Defence and Military Veterans’ shambolic operations were laid bare before MPs as officials failed to produce an internal audit report into the finances and workings in the military veterans section.
The department is marred by incompetence from its highly paid officials, lack of delivery of benefits such as housing for struggling veterans and a long-standing credentials verification process that is taking too long to finish.
Members of the Portfolio Committee on Defence on Wednesday chastised the department for only raising its problems on the audit report only at the start of the meeting.
“Reports and presentations are to be submitted seven days before the meeting. You should have written a letter to this committee informing us about the unavailability of the report.
“It has become a norm for departments to just tell come to meetings without proper documentations agreed upon, this won’t be tolerated,” said committee chairperson Cyril Xaba.
Deputy Minister Thabang Makwetla said the internal audit committee did not meet the deadline because of “capacity problems.”
“We felt that we should not proceed with [internal audit report] item on agenda, because it wont be from people designated to present the state of health of the department.
“No other person can present this but the audit committee…we also established that the audit committee have no functionaries to present to this committee. Our plea is we be allowed to come back in two months with an audit by those seized with that work in the department.”
The audit committee was supposed to brief the MPs on its work, findings and problems encountered in the department.
The military veterans department is responsible for looking after the interests of thousands of former freedom fighters from all political parties’ armed structures and other units.
Director-general Irene Mpolweni told MPs action would be taken against those found guilty, promising to have the audit report tabled by September.
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The committee adopted a report following their oversight visit to defence offices in Tshwane last month.
In the report, committee members raised questions to officials about the continued delay in finalising the verification process, expired building lease and veterans’ benefits that do not reach the intended recipients.
Some MPs remarked that they were approached by veterans and families who needed urgent help with school fees and healthcare after being turned away by department staffers.
“Concerns were raised around school fees, with one member of Parliament seeking out assistance for a disabled child. The department admitted that the challenge was that all applications were processed manually, which is problematic and slow,” read the report.
Furthermore, the lease for military veterans office headquarters expired in 2018, and no new premises have been sourced or new lease signed. The department is renting on a month to month basis, labelled by the MPs as waste of public funds.
This, said committee members, raised questions on the state of the provincial offices which are supposed to be closer to the veterans’ reach.
“The access to the head office building and its staff was also raised as committee members are continuously approached by military veterans regarding the disrespectful treatment by staff. It was reiterated that this was unacceptable, and that the department needed to improve on service delivery to the veterans.”
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At least four top officials employed in the department’s work-streams, established to align the veterans affairs, are in disciplinary hearings after they were suspended last year.
Without providing their names, Mpolweni told the MPs that the three men and a woman held positions of deputy director-general of empowerment and stakeholder management, chief director of military veterans skills and empowerment, chief financial officer and chief director of provincial office management.
They were charged with varying charges including absenteeism and dereliction of duties, contravention of the PFMA, wasteful expenditure, failure to perform as required, gross insubordination, fraudulent misrepresentations, gross dishonesty and disregard of policies and processes.
The work streams were formed under the presidential task team established in 2020 and headed by Deputy President David Mabuza . They are tasked with straightening out the functioning of the department and cleaning up its database, which was found containing people who were not supposed to be registered as they did not qualify.
The work streams on verifications started in Gauteng, followed by Eastern Cape and are now in Limpopo, where they have been for three weeks.
According to the panel’s chairperson, retired General Enoch Mashoala, they received 5,000 applications, and at least 1,080 of them have so far appeared before his team for interviews and verification. About 900 of them were not recommended, he said.
“The 900 include members of self defence units, because we recognise their sacrifices. They defended black townships and communities against political attacks from hostel dwellers, as you would know that history, we are going to make a submission on their behalf.
“At least 259 of the 900 applicants were members of the self defence units. As soon as we are done we are going to consolidate all the numbers.”
It is not yet known how long the verification process will take, while former armed soldiers wait for houses, education and health benefits. A new pension benefit that was supposed to commence last month is yet to be budgeted for.
All the former military wing organisations and associations fall under the umbrella body called SA Military Veterans Association (SAMVA). According to Mpolweni, SAMVA, which is supported by the department, will soon hold a conference. However, unity efforts for the MK Council and counterparts uMkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans’ Association (MKMVA) continue to fail as the latter refuses to dissolve its structures.
MKMVA, a member of SAMVA, is adamant that it will never abide by the outcomes of the former uMkhonto weSizwe members’ unity conference that was held in the Eastern Cape last month.
Spokesperson Carl Niehaus, who failed military verification credentials, said his organisation has met with lawyers to launch an interdict against the mother body – the ANC – and the department.
“We also wanted that conference to succeed and that did not happen, members of MKMVA walked out. Statements that that conference produced a united front are false. We want the outcomes declared null and void.”
He described the department as being in “an administrative disarray”, adding that verifications should be carried out for individuals by their own former commanders only.
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