Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Angie Motshekga. Carl Niehaus lays bare the rot within the Department of Military Veterans following a high-level briefing to the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans by the Auditor-General.
The Auditor-General of South Africa’s high-level briefing to the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans on June 3, 2026 has exposed a department in free-fall. The Department of Military Veterans (DMV) is not merely struggling — it is in accelerating collapse. With only 63% implementation of prior audit action plans, zero progress in four critical high-risk areas, and regression in financial health, the evidence is damning. This is systemic breakdown with devastating consequences for military veterans who sacrificed for our democracy.
As EFF Member of Parliament on this Committee, I have observed with alarm the DMV’s failure to fulfil its mandate. The AGSA findings, corroborated by the Parliamentary Research Unit and the Department’s weak responses, reveal governance collapse, financial mismanagement, procurement scandals, and absent consequence management. The human cost falls on veterans — many MK and liberation fighters — denied pensions, healthcare, housing, and burial support under the Military Veterans Act of 2011.
