Economic Freedom Fighters condemns the entitlement attitude of the uMkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans
12 October 2020
The Economic Freedom Fighters condemns the entitlement attitude of uMkhonto weSizwe Military Veterans who from time to time believe that they deserve special treatment in South Africa simply because they voluntarily joined the armed wing of the former liberation movement. Every time the military veterans or their representatives speak, they make demands that suggest that they deserve special treatment and certain benefits must be preserved for them.
This entitlement attitude is unacceptable and should be rejected with the contempt it deserves. The reality is that many South Africans at home and in exile engaged in different forms of struggle against apartheid, and most in direct confrontation with the nonsensical apartheid regime. Those who were at home engaged in courageous struggles and mass protests against the regime did not, not even once, ever constitute themselves into a lobby group demanding special treatment. The entitlement demands of military veterans are therefore not justifiable and reflect the fact that most of these so-called soldiers lack revolutionary political consciousness.
The EFF demands that government should ignore all the special treatment demands of military veterans and treat them like everyone in South Africa. The armed struggle ended 30 years ago, and those who were in exile for one reason or another had an ample opportunity to develop their skills and fully integrate into society instead of making entitlement demands. South Africa's laws demand that all people should be treated equally, so there should never be any special treatment for anyone including the so-called military veterans, majority of whom were not involved in any war against apartheid. There must never be any job or contract reserved for any military veterans.
True and Revolutionary Freedom Fighters always know that the struggle for freedom is voluntary and does not and have never meant that those who volunteered must be given special treatment. True Revolutionaries always appreciate that the struggle is waged to liberate the people, not leaders of the struggle. Inadequate and misleading political education amongst military veterans is therefore responsible for the entitlement and special treatment demands which must never be acceded to. Thomas Sankara was correct in stating that "A soldier without any political or ideological training is a potential criminal". So instead of making special treatment demands, these military veterans must raise their levels of political consciousness.
Issued by Vuyani Pambo, National Spokesperson, EFF, 14 October 2020
