Hon Groenewald, just listen. I know you were a soldier at the time. It should be appreciated that the integration of former blood enemies under one flag and command and control had and still continues to have its challenges and casualties. It is common cause that former MK and Apla - Azanian People's Liberation Army - members were not receiving treatment equal to that of former SADF and TBVC states' soldiers.
This kind of discrimination has demonstrated itself in disparities and opaqueness in ranking of soldiers, remuneration and other service benefits. It was indeed as if the liberated had turned their backs against their liberators. What a painful sight it was to behold those who sacrificed their future and put their lives on the line to liberate their people, being relegated to the peripheries and margins of the very society they fought to liberate.
This Bill offers an opportunity to us as members of this august House of Parliament to demonstrate ubuntu to sons and daughters of South Africa who have dedicated their lives to and have vowed to even put down their lives in order to secure this hard-won democracy. It is now our turn as legislation crafters to demonstrate our heartfelt gratitude and acknowledgment for the sacrifices of the gallant men and women of the SA National Defence Force, SANDF. We would not be who we are and where we are.
The Bill establishes a Defence Service Commission whose functions, inter alia, will be to make recommendations to the Minister on improvements in salaries and service benefits; make recommendations to the Minister on policies in respect of conditions of service; consider, among other things, the rank structure of the Defence Force; and also consider, among other things, affordability of different levels of remuneration.
The commission is but one step towards fair and equitable treatment of the members of the Defence Force, not only verbally, but materially. The effect of the commission will be to improve the employment conditions of all Defence Force members. It is the commission that, through its investigations and consultations with members of the Defence Force and any other interested person or body as provided for in section 62(b) of the bill, will recommend to the Minister a workable plan to improve service conditions ... [Time expired.] [Applause.]