Cape Town – Defence and Military Veterans Deputy Minister Kebby Maphatsoe says after a six year journey, the department will formally launch the South African Cape Corps Military Veterans Association (SACCMVA) during a three-day conference.
The launch of the Association comes after the department had to bring splinter groups from the association around one table since it was first launch in 2009.
“The Department of Military Veterans through the leadership of the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans will be launching the SACCMVA from the 28th to 30th August 2015 in Cape Town.
“This is in pursuit of achieving the department’s constitutional mandate regarding those who suffered for freedom and those who contributed to the building of our country as also outlined in the prescripts of the Military Veterans Act 18 of 2011
“This launch is the culmination of a lengthy process that had to ensure that the basis for the establishment of this formation meets the legal requirements as enjoyed by the Military Veterans Act
“It took us almost six years to get where we are today,” the Deputy Minister said.
This comes after years of discussions around the government formally recognising the SACCMVA as a military veterans association and some individual members of the Cape Corps joining the Reserve Force as of the South African National Defence Force.
The SACCMVA is an association that comprises former members of South African Cape Corps (SACC), who were deployed to countries such as Angola during the famous “Bush War” from 1966 to 1989.
As one of the oldest organised military units in the South African history, the origins of the Cape Corps date back to 1781 from the Khoikhoi at the Cape during the first Dutch administration. At the time they were called the “Corps of Bastaard Hottentotten”.
Throughout the historic battles, from the World War one in 1915 and the second World War, the Cape Corps served under colonial and racist conditions and evolved over the years.
The SACC was eventually disbanded on March 31, 1992.
Most of the SACC members could unfortunately not integrated into the then South African Defence Force (SADF) and did not receive assistance of being re-skilled or being given alternative employment.
The Deputy Minister said the launch of the SACCMVA was significant as it would help restore the dignity of the members of the SACC.
“Military veterans must play a role in assisting some of them to re-integrate in society. You know some of them who come from war have not been properly counselled. So it is the duty of the leadership who will be elected during the conference to go and look for all former members so that we bring together so that they benefit from the benefits that we are giving to military veterans.
“This recognition goes with the responsibility that the veterans of the SACC, knowing the acute pain of racial conflict and its capacity to lay life and the country to waste should stand in honour to uphold the Constitution of the republic and ensure that they send the message in their communities that the future of our country can only be vested in a non-racial, non-sexist and united South Africa,” he said. – SAnews.gov.za
