Servicemen to remain as military veterans on data base

 "The director general of the department of Military Veterans, Mr. Motumi, today once again confirmed to me that the names of servicemen which are on the data base for military veterans will not be removed. This follows on my intervention after Mbulelo Mmusi, the spokesperson for the department, had stated that the department was intending to remove the names of 16 000 servicemen from the data base. The definition in the Military Veterans Act, 18 of 2011, of what constitutes a military veteran is very clear and servicemen do qualify," Dr. Pieter Groenewald, the chief spokesperson on Defence for the Freedom Front Plus says.

"Regulations have now been published which determines the means test to be passed to qualify for certain benefits. Section 2 of the Act stipulates that merely satisfying the definition of a military veteran does not entitle a person to the benefits in terms of the Act. Section 3(c) of the Act determines that such a person also has to meet the means test to receive such benefits. The regulations for example determine that amongst others, that to qualify for housing and a transport subsidy, the applicant must earn less than R125 000 per annum. These requirements will therefore also have to be met to receive any benefits," Dr. Groenewald said.

Statement issued by Dr. Pieter Groenewald, FF Plus chief spokesperson: Military Veterans, February 26 2014

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