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Liberation struggle veterans have called on new minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Lindiwe Sisulu, to help thousands of ex-combatants who they say are dying broke.

While the uMkhonto WeSizwe Military Veterans Association yesterday expressed gratitude towards President Jacob Zuma for appointing Sisulu in the post, they raised a number of issues concerning military veterans that they said needed to be resolved.

Sisulu has, meanwhile, promised to consult all former struggle combatants, including the Azanian People’s Liberation Army, the former armed wing of the Pan Africanist Congress and former members of Azapo’s Azanian National Liberation Army.

Among other things, military veterans want pension and financial benefits for ex-combatants integrated into the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) on their return from exile in 1994 that are equal to those awarded to former members of the apartheid South African Defence Force.

Kebbey Maphatsoe, chairman of the ANC’s MK Military Veterans’ Association, told journalists at Luthuli House in Johannesburg yesterday that it was “unfair” that military veterans retiring from the SANDF were being paid out pensions as if they had joined the army only in 1994.

“Our members are dying poor. How can government expect a 60-year-old man to retire with R100 000, when the SADF is paid out from the day they joined the army, in the 1960s?

“White SANDF members walk away with millions, while military veterans die poor.

“We are not fighting for ourselves but for our dependants and their future,” said Maphatsoe. Almost 20 000 ex-combatants still in the SANDF want a number of issues addressed, including improved pay packages, promotions to senior ranks and training.

Maphatsoe said Parliament had approved special pensions for non-statutory forces members, but this did not address all the issues.

Sisulu said the government would do everything “within its means” to ensure that ex-combatants were looked after.