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Military Veterans Pension rollout gains momentum

11 May 2023

The Ministry of Defence and Military Veterans through the Deputy Minister Thabang Makwetla, has on the 26th April 2023, announced the roll-out of the much awaited Military Veterans Pension as legislated in the Military Veterans Act of 2011, Act no. 18 of 2011.

The Regulations governing the implementation of this act were tabled by

the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans in Parliament, in accordance with the requirements of the Act, on the 12th December 2022 for thirty days.

Further more, upon the expiry of the stipulated thirty days, the Ministry proceeded to gazette the tabled Regulations with amendments from public submissions received. The submissions were helpful as they enriched the regulations.

There has been a call for further submissions on these regulations that were published in government gazette. This was not intended to stop the administrative roll-out of this process of administering the roll out of the pension, the processing of applications and the paying of those who qualify, this process is ongoing.

Amendments to the regulations in the interest of ensuring a smooth implementation of legislation is the norm and an ongoing endeavour.

The pension rollout is a rational, balanced, equitable, and morally acceptable government intervention that is intended to ensure that no military veteran who rendered service to the country is left without a state pension.

The regulations are subsidiary legislation and the preserve of the Executive for purposes of spelling out administrative procedures established by the ministry for the efficient implementation of legislation as passed by parliament.

We have noted the confusion and uncertainty created by the lack of clarity on the part of the Department of Military Veterans officials in their interaction with Parliament’s oversight committee on Defence and Military Veterans. We wish to clarify that the rollout of the military veterans’ pension is being implemented through the Government Pension Administration Agency (GPAA) and thus far, over 600 applications have already been received since the commencement of this pension rollout.

We continue to encourage all qualifying military veterans who meet the criteria as set out in the draft regulations to continue apply for this pension at Government Pension Administration Agency (GPAA) Offices.