Minister had ‘no interest’ in military veterans’ woes or wisdom
The urge for Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula to announce her new advisory council after the previous term of office came to an end last October does not seem too pressing.
Members of the previous council claim their efforts in the past five years to advise the department have gone unnoticed. On Wednesday council members briefed the portfolio committee on defence and military veterans for the first time since they were appointed in 2015. The council was initially established in 2011.
Obbey Mabena, an Umkhonto weSizwe military veteran and a former member of the council, along with fellow ex-members voiced their despondency at serving on the council — whose role in the departmental hierarchy is above the director general and on the same level as the department’s deputy minister.