The South African Coloured Corps (SACC) Forum is heading to the High Court in Cape Town on Tuesday due to a lack of legal benefits for its former military veterans.
The SACC Forum, which was established in 2020, says its engagements with the Military Veterans Department have been frustrating.
SACC represents former soldiers of the South African Cape Corps who participated, among others, in the Second World War. The unit was integrated into the South African National Defence Force (Sandf) in 1994.
The forum’s secretary-general, Geralda Abrahams, says it has been an uphill battle.
Abrahams says, “We had a march to Parliament to hand over a memorandum last year and to try and engage with the Department of Military Veterans and the government. They did not respond to us to date. We have tried everything to engage with the government to have the SACC Forum as a military veterans organisation to assist and help veterans with no response from them. We had no choice but to take the matter further and that is to the local court.”
According to South African history, the ‘Cape Corps’ was formed in September 1915, when the Union Government sought to raise an infantry battalion of Cape Coloured men for service in the First World War, within a strict selection process.
SACC marches to Parliament demanding to be awarded their legal benefits:
