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Service Delivery Failures at the DMV Violate Veterans’ Rights

Dear Editor

The Democratic Alliance (DA) demands that the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Angie Motshekga, appoints the permanent Director-General of the Department of Military Veterans without further delay. The Director-General position was advertised last year, and applications closed at the end of November 2024. To date, the post yet to be filled.

This position was left vacant after the resignation of Ms Irene Mpolweni, who was suspended in March 2024. It is currently occupied by the Acting Director-General, Ms Nontobeko Mafu, the fourth functionary in this position over the last 13 years.

The Minister’s failure to appoint a permanent DMV Director-General is hampering the process of unrolling benefits for deserving military veterans and their dependents, who have been waiting to receive their benefits since 2011.

The prolonged delay in appointing a permanent Director-General has contributed to management instability within the DMV. This was witnessed by the Joint Standing Committee on Defence on 25 March 2025, when aggrieved department officials and union representatives demanded to address the committee at the DMV Headquarters in Pretoria.

Given that the key role of the Director-General in managing military benefits, the DA finds this delay totally unacceptable. It is disheartening that we receive a number of complaints from military veterans on a daily basis, including that:

  • Unemployed military veterans are still not able to access hospital services due to no subsidised public transport being provided by DMV.
  • Deserving military veterans have been waiting for years, and are yet to be registered onto the National Database.
  • Thousands of military veterans are yet to receive their pension benefits.

The failures by DMV undermine the constitutional rights of military veterans. The DA has written a letter to the Minister demanding the immediate appointment of the Director-General in the DMV in order to restore management stability and ensure proper service delivery to military veterans.

The DA will continue fighting to ensure that the constitutional rights of deserving military veterans are honoured, and that the executive is held accountable.

Regards

Maliyakhe Shelembe MP
DA Deputy Spokesperson on Defence and Military Veterans

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