MKMVA denounces the continuing delays of ranking promotions of non-statutory (NSF) members in SAPS and calls for immediate action
10 June 2020
The Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans Association (MKMVA) is deeply disturbed and angered by the continuing delays in the promotion of members of the former Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), and other Non-Statutory Forces (NSF) members, to senior ranks in the South African Police Service.
This is a matter that has now been dragging on since the formation of the new South African Police Service (SAPS), when in the amalgamation/integration process the members of the so-called Non-Statutory Forces (NSF) were given a raw deal, and their lifelong dedication to the liberation of our people were not recognized as years of service, and they consequently ended up being employed in humiliatingly low ranks within SAPS. This situation was made worse by the aberration that the members of the former apartheid police force were retained in their senior ranks. In reality there was no equal and fair integration of the South African Police Service (SAPS), the members of the former liberation armies - with specific reference to ex-MK combatants, who are the majority of the NSF members - were simply absorbed into the structures, ranking hierarchy, and culture of the old apartheid police force.
This was one of the worst decisions of the negotiation process, and led to the humiliation of proud liberation soldiers, and the destruction of the hopes and lives of many of our members and their families. It led to the entirely unacceptable situation that senior ex-combatants of MK had to serve under the command of former apartheid police officers, who were their former enemies - and in some instances have been involved in the most heinous crimes against them, including having arrested and tortured them, and having killed their fellow comrades.
Many of our members could not take this humiliation, and resigned from the entirely inappropriate junior positions that they were assigned to. As a consequence many ex-MK combatants ended up becoming unemployed, and this caused severe hardships for their families. Those who stayed on in the SAPS, despite the humiliation that their long years of dedicated service were disregarded, in the hope that justice will eventually prevail, have during the past 26 years of our democracy been deeply disappointed.