War vets feel ‘cheated’ over limited payments, R250m could return to Treasury

The slow payouts of the long-awaited military veterans’ pension could see the Department of Defence and Military Veterans forfeit R250 million to the Treasury while poverty-stricken war vets continue to suffer.

Little progress has been made since Deputy Minister Thabang Makwetla announced the start of pension payouts in April last year.

Of the thousands of applications received, only 268 people have been paid so far.

In 2022, former deputy president David Mabuza told the National Assembly that there was a total of 44,369 military veterans whose details are in the certified personnel register and qualify to receive benefits as prescribed in the legislation.

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‘Sassa is much quicker’

Many of the desperate former combatants say they are yet to be paid years after sending in applications.

“Makwetla said once you fill in the forms and the department, GEPF and GPAA are satisfied and done, they won’t hesitate to pay, but we don’t see that happening.

“Every time I call GEPF they tell me that my application is being captured on their system, and that I must call after two weeks. But you get told the very same story when you call back to check the status,” said Tsiamo Morake.

Another applicant Nomvula Kekana said she was told by the GPAA that her application had been verified but was yet to be captured into the system.

“How long does it take GPAA to add an application into their system? I applied in May last year, it’s almost a year now.

“How come a grant application at Sassa is much quicker compared to the much-needed military pension? We need food and medical care, it is a terrible life facing South Africa’s ageing military veterans,” she said.

‘Where is the rest of my money?’

One of the 260 people who have been lucky to receive payments said that their money was only backdated up to December last year, instead of April to coincide with Makwetla’s announcement.

“I have been paid monies backdated to December only. They’ve had my application for two years, they were supposed to backpay me up to April. We have been cheated,” said the beneficiary who preferred to remain anonymous.

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He said when he inquired why he wasn’t paid for the past eight months, GPAA told him that payments were backdated up to the date when his application was captured into the database.

“It is daylight robbery by the department and GPAA because it is not my fault that they didn’t capture my application since 2022.

“They are making us pay for their sloppiness,” he added.

GPAA spokesperson Mack Lewele referred questions to the department.

“These questions can be better responded to by the Minister’s office. The GPAA is just an administrator. Please talk to them,” he said.

Military veterans spokesperson Lebogang Mothapa had not responded to the query by the time of publication.

260 payouts made to date

Appearing before Parliament’s portfolio committee on defence last week, the Government Pensions Administration Agency (GPAA) painted a gloomy picture regarding the payouts.

The GPAA administers funds and schemes on behalf of the Government Employees Pension Fund (GEPF).

MPs were told that of the 19,000 applications, only 268 veterans had received their pension benefits, leaving committee members raising concerns about the slow-paced work by the department and the GPAA.

Despite the delays, the agency said it plans to approve and pay at least 4 000 veterans by the end of March this year.

Concerned committee chairperson Cyril Xaba told the agency and the department’s officials that unless they speed up the payments, R250 million in unspent military veterans funds could be returned to Treasury.

“The R250 million represents 75% of what was allocated for the military veterans’ pension benefits in the current financial year and would be surrendered back to the Treasury if the number of pension beneficiaries remains low.

“This will be the second year that the department fails to spend the budget set aside for the military veterans’ pension benefits,” he said.

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