The Military Veterans Act (No 18 of 2011) and the Regulations Regarding the Military Veterans Pension Benefit (2023) make provision for pension benefits to be paid to military veterans and dependents who qualify.

A military veteran is any person who is a citizen of South Africa and:

• Was involved in any of the military organisations which were involved on all sides of the liberation wars in South Africa from 1960 to 1994
• Served in the Union Defence Force before 1961
• Became a member of the SANDF after 1994

The person should be listed in the Department of Defence and Military Veterans National Military Veterans database. Any dependents, widows, and widowers must be living in South Africa.

A person who qualifies for a Military Veteran Pension will receive a monthly pension based on the Old Age Pension amount.

When a Military Veteran dies, their dependents may receive up to 50% of the pension benefit provided they don’t receive any other form of State pension above the 50% threshold from the Military Veteran pension benefit.

Applying for a Military Veterans Pension Benefit

A person can apply for a Military Veterans Pension Benefit using the prescribed form of the Department of Defence and Military Veterans (Form MVP01_2022). The application must include the following documents:

• Certified copy of ID
• Certified copy of ID of the spouse
• A recognised marriage certificate
• Certified copies of the unabridged birth certificates of the dependents of the person who is applying
• Signed bank entity form with applicant’s account numbers, stamped by the bank

The application must be submitted to the Government Pensions Administration Agency (GPAA) either by hand, registered post or electronically. The GPAA must give the applicant an acknowledgement of receipt of the application within 90 days.

If the application is approved, the GPAA must inform the Military Veteran in writing or electronically.

If an application is rejected, the GPAA must inform the person of the reasons for this and their right to lodge an appeal.

The applicant must appeal within 90 days of the date of the decision to refuse the application. The Appeal Board will consider the appeal based on the information provided in the original application and can either confirm or set aside the decision of the GPAA. The Board must finalise the appeal within 90 days from the date when the appeal was made.