Military veterans in the Free State have accused government of failing them. They say they are poverty-stricken despite the immense role they played in the struggle.
The Democratic Alliance (DA) conducted an oversight visit to some of the veterans in Welkom.
Ten years waiting for houses, Samuel Bani lives in Welkom with his wife and three children. Bani is unemployed, he says the military veterans department has not paid his children’s school fees.
“We have been disadvantaged like we were during apartheid. Our government don’t care about us and my children, and haven’t paid their school fees, look at my house this is a disgrace,” says Bani.
For some of the veterans, the struggle is far from over, “What we want is clear, government should do what is right and finish building these houses for us and stop humiliating us.”
The DA says it will write to Parliament to hold the Matjhabeng municipality and provincial government accountable.
DA leader Patricia Kopane says, “R48 million was budgeted to build these houses since 2008 but it’s not clear what happened with the money. Now our people have been cheated and we need to hold people accountable.
The Department of Human Settlements says there are issues to be resolved. But it claims the R48 million project has not been abandoned.
