Erasmus Shalihaxwe
A parliamentary standing committee on constitutional and legal affairs has recommended that the Ministry of Defence and Veterans Affairs, in consultation with the Ministry of Justice, review the Veterans Act No. 2 of 2008.
The committee wants amendments to include all children who were in exile during the liberation struggle.
A report released by Parliament on Monday states that when the Veterans Act was enacted in 2008, it excluded those below 18 years old.
At the time, they were considered children and dependent on their veteran parents.
“The concern is that the Act automatically excludes those above 18 years. Even so, within the same Act, the definition of a dependent of a war veteran refers to any person of any age. Which would only benefit those with surviving parents when they pass away,” reads the report.
The committee found that this exclusion left many children of war veterans without government support.
This led to the emergence of the Struggle Kids, a group seeking recognition and assistance.
“The government took too long to come up with a piece of legislation to address the problems of war veterans, and when it was enacted in 2008, the children of living and deceased war veterans above the age of 18 were excluded from the Act. Therefore, they do not qualify as beneficiaries for government programs earmarked for war veterans.” stated the committee.
The petitioners submitted a draft proposal for the amendment of the Veterans Act, No. 2 of 2008, to the committee for consideration.
The Ministry of Defence later initiated programs to investigate the plight of these children, following a Cabinet decision.
However, the Office of the Ombudsman challenged these efforts in court, arguing they were unconstitutional for only considering a specific group and excluding others.
“After considering the concerns raised by the petitioners and the views of the Ministry, the Committee believed that the inclusion of the children born in exile or those who participated in the war as minors was an oversight from the sight of the Ministry. The children were born in exile, and some joined the liberation struggle as minors. There was no reason why they could not be included in the Act and benefit like the rest of the veterans who were in exile,” the committee stated.
