“We are here to inform, most importantly the community of military veterans, that as of Freedom Day the offices of government will be ready to pay out the military veterans' pensions,” Makwetla said.
However, this will not apply to everyone. Of 82,000 military veterans, only 9,000 qualify.
Those who receive other pensions could be rejected depending on how much they earn. Should it be below the R5,100, beneficiaries can claim the difference from the department.
“This pension... was intended to make sure there is no military veteran who is not receiving a pension. That is the purpose of it. All military veterans who receive pensions of one form or the other are not included in this pension because it would really constitute double dipping,” said Makwetla.
Those who apply while receiving another pension will be flagged by the GPAA.
GPAA senior manager for special pensions Kabelo Jonathan said the system was designed to flag risks in the value chain.
“We are confident we will be able to roll this out seamlessly and cautiously, and provide the department with reports of the people paid and how many applications were rejected. Rejected applicants will have 90 days to lodge an appeal,” said Jonathan.
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Military veterans to receive pensions after 12-year delay
Image: Rorisang Kgosana
Military veterans will receive monthly pensions of just more than R5,000 each from Freedom Day on Thursday.
Deputy minister of military veterans Thabang Makwetla announced on Tuesday that the funds would finally be rolled out after 12 years.
The pension fund was legislated in 2011 when the Military Veterans Act was passed by parliament. However, it was never rolled out due to the military veterans' department's limited budget, he said.
After state of the nation address (Sona) debate, President Cyril Ramaphosa was prompted to establish a task team under the minister of finance to look into the outstanding pensions.
The budget has now increased from R36.9m in the previous financial year to R102m in the 2023/24 financial year.
In the years following, his will increase to R109m and R115m, with the funds distributed by the Government Pensions Administration Agency (GPAA).
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“We are here to inform, most importantly the community of military veterans, that as of Freedom Day the offices of government will be ready to pay out the military veterans' pensions,” Makwetla said.
However, this will not apply to everyone. Of 82,000 military veterans, only 9,000 qualify.
Those who receive other pensions could be rejected depending on how much they earn. Should it be below the R5,100, beneficiaries can claim the difference from the department.
“This pension... was intended to make sure there is no military veteran who is not receiving a pension. That is the purpose of it. All military veterans who receive pensions of one form or the other are not included in this pension because it would really constitute double dipping,” said Makwetla.
Those who apply while receiving another pension will be flagged by the GPAA.
GPAA senior manager for special pensions Kabelo Jonathan said the system was designed to flag risks in the value chain.
“We are confident we will be able to roll this out seamlessly and cautiously, and provide the department with reports of the people paid and how many applications were rejected. Rejected applicants will have 90 days to lodge an appeal,” said Jonathan.
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