Cape Argus reports that members of the SA Cape Corps Military Veterans staged a peaceful march to Parliament on Monday and handed over a three-page memorandum and petition appealing for full military benefits and pensions.

According to the veterans, they haven’t received benefits in 30 years, and their appeals to the government, including the Department of Military Veterans (DMV), have been ignored. Veterans from regions including the North West, Pretoria and Cape Town, made their way to Parliament, supported by the Western Cape Aboriginal Governance Council. General Aubrey Goliath, 60, from Bonteheuwel, retired in 1989 and said they had been appealing since 1994. “For years we have been promised according to Article 18 of 2011, which makes provision for us as military veterans, that we will be compensated with every kind of benefit, but until today, we have received nothing. We just get papers and constantly need to apply, and hand in the necessary documents like our force numbers, but nothing has taken place amongst our Cape Corps Military Veterans. We need to ask and follow up every time, then we are told to wait and have patience,” he reported. After waiting for over an hour for someone from Parliament to address the crowd, the Western Cape Provincial Coordinator of Military Veterans, Michael Masala, arrived, saying: “The people in the ministry who are authorised to receive the memorandum are not here. I am here to receive the memorandum on behalf of the department and I will send it to the (defence) minister’s office who will be the one who responds.”

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Marsha Dean at Cape Argus

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