Thank you, hon Speaker, hon Ministers, Deputy Ministers and hon MPs, in their work to determine the essence of the disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of former combatants, authors Spears and Carvalho both concurred that if the government of the day doesn't ensure that former combatants find a livelihood and submitted to the laws and norms that govern civilians, it runs the risk of having combatants that may have difficulty in finding a productive position in the legal civilian economy. They may also develop an oppositional stance towards society and government.
In our response to this reality, as the ANC-led government, we started by establishing an inclusive South African National Defence Force. The SANDF, as it is commonly known, was formed through the integration of seven former forces in April 1994. Five of these forces were statutory forces, while the other two, namely the glorious uMkhonto weSizwe, MK, and the Azanian People's Liberation Army, Apla, were nonstatutory forces, NSF.
The principle of eradicating the imbalances of the past has been the linchpin of our integration process. Guided by this noble principle, we dealt with a special pension provision and it took the following trajectory.
Before the integration of the forces, the statutory force members were contributing to the Government Employees Pension Fund, GEPF, and stood to receive pension benefits on termination of their service. The former NSF members, on the other hand, did not have the opportunity to contribute to any pension fund. This created a disparity between the former NSF members and the former statutory force members in as far as pension benefits were concerned.
At its meeting of 24 November 2010, the Cabinet approved the tabling of the report of the Interim National Defence Force Service Commission. This report follows Cabinet's decision to create a new service dispensation for the Defence Force.
Following that decision, the interim National Defence Force Service Commission was established, among other things, to advise and make recommendations on a unique service dispensation outside the ambit of the Public Service. The report covers challenges faced by the SANDF since 1994, the root causes of the problems and proposed short-term and long-term solutions.
Cabinet approved the extension of the revised NSF pension dispensation to cover all former NSF members who entered into an employment contract with other government departments and institutions that contribute to the Government Employees Pension Fund. The Cabinet furthermore approved the alignment of the current Special Pensions Act and Government Employees Pension Law to enable recognition of the NSF service of affected current and past employees.
The intention of the NSF pension dispensation is therefore to address disparities in the fairest manner possible. In other words, the intention is to put the former NSF members who joined the Public Service in the same position as former statutory force members for pension purposes, as far as possible.
The Local Government Employees Pension Law Amendment Bill, the one we are currently dealing with, seeks to amend certain aspects of the Government Employees Pension Fund. The object of this Bill is, inter alia, to amend the provisions for the recognition of pensionable service of former members of nonstatutory forces or service.
One of the established areas, which became extremely visible with hindsight but was not so before, is that the current provision states that former members of the statutory forces or services must, in accordance with the rules, apply for the fund to have their services as members of statutory forces recognised as pensionable service. The effect of this is that the services rendered by members of the NSF may either be recognised or not, their assessment being based, of course, on the rules of the current fund.
This Bill seeks to enable the implementation of the revised NSF pension dispensation because in 2010 Cabinet once more approved the revision of this particular dispensation. According to the revised approval, it firstly provided for the abolishment of the need for former NSF members to contribute to the funding in recognition of their NSF service by the GEPF.
Secondly, it provided for the recognition of the full period of NSF service by all former NSF members who were subsequently employed by government departments and institutions that contributed to the fund. It also provided that special pension benefits paid to qualifying members who are still in the service should cease at exit and that members should receive their full benefits in accordance with the fund's rules.
To realise these objectives the Bill amends section 30(a)(2) of the principal Act. The amendment indicates that the benefits payable to members of the NSF shall not be reduced by the amount of any benefit received in terms of the Special Pensions Act and that members' eligibility to receive any benefit in terms of the Special Pensions Act shall cease on exit from the fund.
In conclusion, it is our submission as the ANC that the provisions of this Bill will enable us to fast-track the improvement of the welfare of our ex- combatants. This Bill concurs with the clarion call made by gallant fighters of uMkhonto weSizwe to mazilunge izinto zamakhomanda [let the matters of the commanders be addressed]. As the ANC we think that this will definitely ensure that this particular aspect is addressed.
Before I conclude, cognisant of the fact that I still have time left, I think I must take this opportunity to urge various ex-combatant formations to take a keen interest in ensuring that all their members take advantage of these new provisions. They must also assist to ensure that. One of the problems that is currently faced by the administrators of the fund is incomplete applications and the fund members are struggling to trace some of the applicants. We are urging ex-combatant formations to assist in this regard. This will help a lot in terms of dealing with the problem that has been identified by the fund itself.
On the issue of liability, I obviously expect the Minister to deal with the details of the sustainability of this particular provision for NSF members. On a lighter note, one might argue that the recently proposed so-called Tutu tax, a recommendation of the TRC, must be considered to deal with aspects of liability, as raised by my former colleagues. I really think that the impression that has been created throughout the presentations and engagements on this matter is that our financial depth is quite adequate to cater for such a provision.
As members of the standing committee, and as correctly cited by one of the speakers, our responsibility is to ensure that we oversee how this particular process will be sustained going forward. As the ANC, we support the Bill and call for its expeditious implementation.