Hon Chairperson, hon Minister, who is sitting behind us, Deputy Minister, hon Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans, our glorious army, the guests in the gallery and outside, at the outset I would like to say that those who do not support this budget do not feel for our security forces.
The National Development Plan urges us to build a capable developmental state, and the ANC has always espoused a caring government. I therefore suggest to you today that a developmental state should not only possess the capacity to care, but should demonstrate such care in action. Our government is a caring government that seeks to build a better life for all our people. Better life for all our people has to do with life expectancy; a broad and deeper skills base; and equitable distribution of wealth. As the chairperson of the portfolio committee has aptly noted:
The Constitution compels South Africans not only to recognise the injustices of the past, but also to honour those who suffered for justice and freedom in our land.
While concurring, I must, however, without fear of contradiction, assert that when the ANC resolved at its 52nd national conference in Polokwane to establish a Ministry for Military Veterans, it was not simply complying with the Constitution, but was demonstrating its character as a caring organisation. It is not unheard of for military veterans to be honoured by the people whose cause they fought to advance. It is, however, unheard of that military veterans, upon returning to the land of their birth, and after risking life and limb to liberate their people, are relegated to the fringes of society and left to sink into deep poverty.
Military veterans are heroes who should be celebrated. I therefore must say, compelled by the truth behind the force of speech, that only racial prejudice can impel any individual to adopt the maxim: Every veteran for himself and the devil takes the hindmost. Again, I must caution that, despite our negotiated settlement, our freedom was never handed to us on a silver platter. [Applause.] We fought for this freedom. Indeed, we lost many of our comrades in the fight for this freedom! [Applause.]
It is important that our Defence Force is not only rejuvenated, but that it contributes to the skilling of our young people in order, amongst others, to reverse the high rate of youth unemployment. In this regard, the Military Skills Development System is a vehicle that continues to be used to transfer skills to our youth and to rejuvenate our Defence Force and military veterans.
In line with the Polokwane resolution that I alluded to earlier, Cabinet introduced the then Military Veterans Bill, which this Parliament passed and the President assented to. However, the current Military Veterans Act, No 18 of 2011, cannot be implemented for want of regulations. I will return to this point later in my speech. Let me focus for a while on the contents of the Act, as I deem them to be critical for this debate. The Act defines a military veteran as:
(a) Any South African citizen who rendered military service to any military organisations, statutory and nonstatutory, which were involved on all sides of the South African Liberation War from 1960 to 1994; (b) served in the Union Defence Force before 1961; or (c) became a member of the new SA National Defence Force after 1994, and has completed his or her military training and no longer performs military service; and has not been dishonourably discharged from that military organisation or force ...
What I seek to do through this definition is to disabuse you of the deliberate misrepresentation by some of the purpose of our government in putting in place a measure to recognise and honour military veterans in life and remembering them in death for their sacrifices. The misrepresentation I refer to is that the ANC seeks to appease its own comrades at the expense of the fiscus. As you have heard firsthand from the Act, our government has no intention, either overt or covert, to discriminate against any legitimate beneficiary and subject of the Act. It seeks only to demonstrate its care for the welfare of those who sacrificed their lives and potential future for the realisation of our democracy, soon to be two decades old. Accordingly, the Act is underpinned by principles of honouring sacrifices made by military veterans in the service to or for their role in the democratisation of South Africa. Pursuant to this principle, the department has honoured the first generation of military veterans with medals becoming of citizens of their eminence. The intention is to cascade the roll-out of honours to subsequent generations. We support this gesture as it accords with the letter, spirit, and purport of the Constitution and beyond reasonable doubt evinces the character of the ANC.
The other key principle underscoring the Act is that compensation which a military veteran may be entitled to for disablement, constitutes reparation and is, despite any provision to the contrary contained in any law, not a welfare benefit. In this regard, the aim is thus to improve the quality of life of military veterans and their dependants. In line with improving the quality of the lives of military veterans, the department undertakes to ensure that military veterans and their dependants have access to education and are provided with health and wellness support. The department also undertakes to ensure the participation of military veterans in the mainstream economy through broad-based black economic empowerment, BBBEE, and participation in rural development and land reform.
Let me now return to the point I made earlier. The fact of the matter is that the Act has been crafted in a broadly overarching manner, thus rendering it inoperable, void of enabling regulations. We are encouraged by the fact that regulations have been tabled and, as Members of Parliament, we promise to ensure that we do our part without undue delay to expedite the process of passing that delegated legislation.
We are conscious of the fact that people's lives and welfare depend on the implementation of the Act, and again we pledge ourselves to do all in our power to ensure that the military veterans of our struggle receive the due honours and recognition. Military veterans must be honoured in life and remembered in death for their sacrifices on behalf of the nation.
The low skills base is one of the causes of youth unemployment in our country. The Military Skills Development System, MSDS, is a strategic means for force rejuvenation as a component of the Human Resource Renewal Strategy. It is a fact of life that people tend to age with the passing of time, and that with age comes the loss of agility. In order to keep our Defence Force agile and ready to engage on all fronts, it becomes fundamental that the force component is kept youthful through the requisite addition of young people.
In his state of the nation address Mr Jacob G Zuma, the President of the Republic of South Africa, noted that: "Working together, we will find a solution to youth unemployment." Subsequently, on 18 February 2013, the Youth Employment Accord was signed at the Hector Pieterson Memorial in Orlando, Soweto. In this endeavour the Department of Defence and Military Veterans, in partnership with the Safety and Security Sector Education and Training Authority, Sasseta, is currently hosting 100 interns from the unemployed youth of South Africa.
MSDS therefore endeavours to attract young people into the scarce skills areas of the SA National Defence Force. Many young people acquire a skill such as being an artisan through the MSDS programme, while others have been trained as flight pilots through the programme. However, there are two limitations that attend the programme which should inform planning. The first limitation is that the Defence Force does not have unlimited space to enrol MSDS trainees. Therefore, the number which may be taken on board within a given time is finite.
The other challenge is that while the Defence Force can offer and perform certain forms of training to the limited number I referred to, it neither can, on its own, offer all the critical skills necessary, nor does it possess the space and capacity to absorb all those who have been trained. The ANC supports the Budget Vote. [Time expired.] [Applause.]