President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Minister of Defence and Military Veterans is “not doing enough” for South Africa’s old soldiers is the on-the-ground observation from a Parliamentarian who’s been keeping a weather eye on veterans’ affairs since 2019.
Maliyakhe Shelembe is number two in the Democratic Party (DA) National Assembly (NA) team tasked with defence and military veterans’ oversight. His first stint was as a shadow deputy minister in the sixth administration and he is now his party’s deputy defence and military veterans’ spokesman.
A particular sphere of interest for him is the plight of old soldiers and he has asked numerous questions of the current incumbent Angie Motshekga and her predecessor, Thandi Modise. Shelembe’s questions cover the gamut of services veterans are supposed to receive from government. These range from pensions and healthcare through to assistance and support with employment opportunities and subsidised use of public transport.
One was responded to in writing shortly before Parliament rose for the year-end break and prompted his “not doing enough” comment to defenceWeb. He wanted an indication from the minister as to when the Department of Military Veterans would be getting a permanent Director General.
This is in view of the DMV at present being under the leadership of its fourth acting director general in recent years. Nontobeko Mafu has been acting since former director general Irene Mpolweni resigned in February this year in the wake of suspension. The Acting Director General list contains two former senior SA National Defence Force (SANDF) officers, one a previous SA Navy (SAN) Chief and the other a three-star Army officer who, among others, headed the Joint Operations Division. Another acting was Max Ozinsky, appointed in November 2016 who left when retired lieutenant general Derrick Mgwebi was parachuted in.
Shelembe’s question reads: “On what date will the position of Director General in the DMV be filled, given the management and leadership instability in her department that is caused by the delay in appointing a permanent Director General, which in turn contributes immensely to the failure of her department to roll out the benefits to the military veterans?”
The Ministerial reply has it she [probably in the form of her office] has written to [Mzamo Buthelezi] Minister of Public Service and Administration “to seek concurrence in line with the directive issued on filling vacant posts”. Shelembe is further informed, in addition to appointing a Director General, priority will also go to finding suitable people for the Deputy Directors General positions at the DMV “to ensure management and leadership stability is restored”. No timelines or dates are given for any of the three senior posts.
