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Durban - The ANC's military wing Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association in KwaZulu-Natal on Sunday said it had been left out in the cold by the party.
The veterans in the Moses Mabhida region were speaking during a regional general council in Edendale in Pietermaritzburg where it launched "Before the Wicket Falls", a programme aimed at uplifting its members before President Jacob Zuma’s term ends.
While the region said it was grateful for steps taken to support veterans through the Department of Defence and Military Veterans, it felt that some government departments were hindering the implementation of their needs tabled in the Veterans Act.
Provincial MKMVA Deputy Secretary Linda Mbuthu said: “Things like dignified housing, job opportunities, medical aid and education support are not coming forth. The Military Veterans Act states that all departments in all spheres of government must assist in uplifting military veterans.
“But some departments and municipalities are not compliant. We are concerned because Zuma’s term of office ends in 18 months’ time.”
Mbuthu said the association fears that once Zuma leaves, they will be forgotten.
Praise for Zuma
“We strongly believe he [Zuma] was the first president who did something around restoring respect for military veterans, his exit might mark the end of it all. So we want to ensure that by the time he retires everything is by the book and all the resolutions are fully implemented,” said Mbuthu.
MKMVA regional secretary Menzi Mkhize said: “We have taken a resolution to bypass our regional structure and communicate direct with government departments including our local municipality because it is clear that the chairperson of the region does not want anything to do with us. All our efforts to engage the region on Polokwane and Mangaung resolutions have dismally failed.”
Mkhize said: “We have evidence that some ANC leaders in the region are telling government officials to not take us seriously and are calling us hooligans.
“This really angers us, after all that we went through for this country; we are now being reduced to streetwalkers by local leadership.
“It is high time for ANC to choose its leadership carefully. The time is now to do away with self-enriching leadership in this region. The time to beg is over, in the next conference we will ensure to elect authentic leaders and clean-out all the leaders who bought the votes.”
