Chairperson, please allow me right from the outset to cover three of the most important things that we wanted to bring to this Budget Vote debate today. Firstly, we will be paying back the backlog that we owe our soldiers of levels 2 to 12 from December to July, as recommended. [Applause.] Secondly, because we really do care about ensuring that we can keep the skills in the Defence Force, we will ensure that our members who qualify for the occupation-specific dispensation, OSD, receive the necessary salary adjustments from last year July to this year. We will backdate the salary adjustment to that. [Applause.]
Thirdly, we will be paying out the nonstatutory fund pensions, which will be sorted out by 15 May this year. For these I'm deeply grateful to the military command of the Defence Force, the Secretaries of Defence, the extensive advice that I have been getting from my office, and my overworked and dedicated staff. I express my sincerest gratitude that today we are able to give this good news.
We will be engaging with society on the purpose of the national service and we hope that we will bring a Bill to this Parliament next year. I would like to thank the hon member from the PAC. I think what you said on this matter is actually something that I would like to take into account and put it into some kind of perspective. I thank you very much for your wise words. We will consider that. I would like to - not on the land - on the ... [Laughter.]
That's one minute gone, Chairperson. I want to thank hon members who spoke here in support of our soldiers. What we have done in the Defence Force, as we speak, is to link this service with our barracks. As we speak here, and they hear the hot air from across there, they know exactly what it is that we think of them. There has been very, very hot air from there.
They have been listening to this budget debate so that they can understand what it is that we say about them. Somewhere out there they do know that members of this House have been supportive of them and understand the conditions under which they live. I would like to thank very much all those people who have done whatever they can, including the necessary research, to be here and ensure that they can add quality.
I would like to thank hon Mr Mlangeni for giving a general perspective of the work that we do abroad. This is a very important work and it is something that we would like to ensure that South Africans are kept abreast of. I was very concerned about an allegation from an hon member that there is rape committed by our soldiers outside of our country. I would like the member to please look into the research and not to generalise about this. This is not what our soldiers are there for. Our soldiers are well known internationally for the quality of work that they do when they are out there. The United Nations has given them wide acclaim for the qualities that they have. So, please, do not use whatever incident you might have as a perspective to paint my soldiers. [Interjections.] Sorry, may I please continue? May I please continue?