HOW TO REGISTER AS A MILITARY VETERAN ON THE NATIONAL DATABASE FOR MILITARY VETERANS (NEW PROCESS)

We want to urge all the former members of the statutory forces who rendered military service from 1960 to 1994 in the South African Defence Force and from 1994 in the  South African National Defence Force to register their details on the National Database for Military Veterans which is held by the Department of Military Veterans.

"military veteran" in the Military Veterans Act, 2011 (No 18 of 2011) which came into operation on 1 April 2012 means any South African citizen who:

(a) rendered military service to any of the military organisations, statutory and non-statutory, which were involved on all sides of South Africa's Liberation War from 1960 to 1994

(b) served in the Union Defence Force before 1961: or

(c) became a member of the new South African National Defence Force after 1994,

and has completed his or her military training and no longer performs military service, and has not been dishonourably discharged from that military organisation or force: Provided that this definition does not exclude any person referred to in paragraph (a), (b) and (c) who could not complete his or her military training due to an injury sustained during military training or a disease contracted or associated with military training.


Why should you register?

  • To ensure that if you need the benefits provided for in the Military Veterans Act, 2011 (No 18 of 2011) either immediately or whenever in the future when this need may arise that your name appears safely and securely on the National Database for Military Veterans.

  • To help us test the efficiency of the current registration process to see if there are glitches so that the CMVO can relay this to the Department of Military Veterans in order for ways to be found to address these challenges and help improve the service delivery by this department.

  • You can help the CMVO to extend its supporter base under the military veterans from the statutory forces because your name on the National Database for Military Veterans will be the name of a military veteran from the statutory forces.

Before you start with the processs to register as military veteran, first check with the Department of Military Veterans  if your name appears on the National Database for Military Veterans

If you have started the process to register on the National Database for Military Veterans by completing and submitting forms (many veterans completed and subnitted these forms years ago at military bases) which went directly to the Department of Military Veterans then you can check if your name appears on the National Database for Military Veterans by phoning the Help Desk of the Department of Military Veterans at the tollfree number 080 232 3244 with your force number, identity number and full names as reference and ask if your name appears on the National Database for Military Veterans. You can also address enquiries about the status of such applications submitted directly to the Department of Military Veterans at database@dmv.gov.za 

If you have done nothing since 2012 to get our name registered on the National Database for Military Veterans, or if you have made enquiries recently and your name does not appear on the National Database for Military Veterans yet, we propose that you start afresh with this application process. You can obtain the latest application form directly from the Department of Military Veterans at database@dmv.gov.za If you are a member of one of the miitary veterans organizations affiliated to the CMVO its office in Pretoria can assist you with this application process.

Are you registered with one of the member organizations of the CMVO?

 

You must contact the Department of Military Veterans directly at database@dmv.gov.za and request an application form to register on the National Database for Military Veterans - this is a process between the applicant and the Department of Military Veterans. Please note that all communication with regard to this application process will strictly be between you and the Department of Military Veterans with no involvement or intervention by the CMVO at all.
  • To assist individual veterans who want to register on the DMV database, ideally the individual veteran should be registered with a recognised Veteran Organisation (in accordance with the Military Veterans Act 18 of 2011). There are many veteran organisations that are not registered and who are not affiliated with the Council of Military Veterans’ Organisations of South Africa (CMVO). These organisations will not be able to register you.

    The CMVO can help you to apply at any of it's affiliated organizations. To do this, you must send an email to hr@cmvo.org.za. The following information about yourself must be included in the email in order to avoid delays with the issuing of this application form:

    • Confirmation of membership of one of the military veterans organizations affiliated to the CMVO, if anyi.
    • Force number
    • Identity number
    • Full Names and Surname
    • Physical and Postal Address
    • Telephone or Cell number
    • Your own e-mail address

  • Registration Forms. The first step is to obtain a registration form (Military Veterans Database Information Form) from the veteran organisation you are registered with. This document will be partially completed with your detail as recorded on the veteran organistions database.

    If you are not registered with a veteran organisation, you will have to complete the blank form that is available from the DMV website at (http://www.dmv.gov.za/documents/dmv_database_forms.htm). It is important that you complete this form fully and as accurate as possible.

  • Complete the registration form.

    Collect all supporting documents required for registration and attach it to the application for registration. This is a very important step as there are many pitfalls with the quality and accuracy of these documents that will hamper successful registration. If you make copies of documents, they need to be Certified as True Copies. You need to attach the original copy. This implies that you cannot make a copy of an already copied document.

    The document with the original stamp from the authority that certified it with the original signature in ink must be submitted. Get these documents certified just before submitting them as they expire in three months’ time from the date of certification. The registration process might take longer, in which case these documents will become invalid and you will have to resubmit.

    Make sure that all the documents required as listed at the top of page 4 of the Registration Form are included. See Appendix A for the list attached.

    An important document to submit which takes time to collect is the Certificate of Service (paragraph 6d on the Form). It is recommended that this is the first document to require. This from can be obtained from the SANDF Command and Management Information Systems Division. Send an e-mail to sandfdoc@mweb.co.za. You need to provide details of where and when you served. The more information with enough background will assist to provide you with your complete and correct Service Record.

    Make sure the required documentation is attached. See Appendix A on the application form for a full list of the required documentation. The minimum list of documents are:

    • Certified copy of your Identity document
    • Certified Marriage Certificate
    • Certified Spouse’s ID and Children’s Birth Certificates/ID Documents
    • Certified Educational Qualifications
    • Certified Drivers License
    • Homeowners - Proof of ownership, if applicable
    • Certified Proof of Residence
    • Certified Proof of Registration and Tax Clearance Certificate of your Business, if applicable
    • PERSOL Printouts which you can obtain from a Military Unit (So called EPG printouts)
    • An Affidavit to explain the change in your ID number (as the ID numbers of most South Africans have been changed some years ago), which also needs to be certified by the SAPS. An example of this Affidavit has been attached - see Apppendix B.

  • Write a cover letter (See example Appx A) explaining the submission of documents for registration on the database and list all the documents that are attached. Be as accurate as possible with the description of these documents.

    Make electronic copies (scan as pdf) of all the documents, starting with the cover letter followed by all the others, in the same sequence as listed on the cover letter. When done with copying, staple all the original documents together in sequence to prevent some of the documents to get lost in the process.

  • The completed application needs to be sent or taken to the Department of Military Veterans in Pretoria.

    Option 1: Deliver the application documents yourself by hand to the following address:

    Veteran Database Registration
    Department of Military Veterans
    386 Festival Road
    Hatfield
    Pretoria
    0001

    Note: Make a copy of the cover letter and get someone to sign your copy of the cover letter as proof of delivery. Make an electronic copy (scan) of the postal notice or your signed copy of the cover letter as well.

    Option 2: By the SA Postal Services; address and register the envelope to:

    Veteran Database Registration
    Department of Military Veterans
    386 Festival Road
    Hatfield
    Pretoria
    0001

    Note: Obtain the receipt of registration with a registration number from the Post Office.

    Send an e-mail to the Department of Military Veterans, providing them with your number, rank and name, as well as ID number in the content of the e-mail and attach the proof of registration from the post office or proof of receipt if submitted by hand as well as the electronic copy of all the documents. Make the subject of the mail: REGISTRATION ON DMV DATABASE. Address the mail to the following addresses:

  • In case the postal service was used your envelope can be tracked. The tracking system will show you all the detail of when the envelope has been received. When the document has been collected from the post office, it will provide you with the name of the person who collected the envelope from the post office. Tracking of your documents is done on the internet at the following web address: www.postoffice.co.za/ContactUs/trackandtracedomestic.html.

    You can follow up with DMV on their progress. Do it every second week. It is ideal that you use the same e-mail as the original in order to have a single record of all the interaction with the office.

    DMV will send you an e-mail to confirm that you are registered with a document attach as proof as soon as they have completed the registration process.

    Individuals can request his personal information to be updated.

    Individuals who want to update his/her information on the official Military Veterans’ database must submit an individual request in writing for a form to update personal information in the same way as shown above.

  • Note that only qualifying persons whose names appear on the registered data base of DMV will be considered for benefits.

    All registration requests must be approved by the DMV and successful applicants loaded onto the database. Unsuccessful applicants must also be notified with reasons for decline.

  • Applicant that was dismissed by a military or civilian court must submit a sworn affidavit explaining the circumstances and details of judgment. These cases will be individually assessed by the Director General for decision.

  • Individual military veterans who are registered on the official Military Veterans database may qualify for benefits provided by the DMV. Eligibility is verified per benefit, based on a Means Test, when an individual applies for the benefit.


What happens if the Director-General of the Department of Military Veterans refuses to approve your application to register on the National Database for Military Veterans?

If your application to be registered as a military veteran on the National Database for Military Veterans is refused by the Director-General of the Department of Military Veterans then you are entitled to appeal to the Appeal Board which was established in terms of the Military Veterans Act, 2011 (No 18 of 2011)

The CMVO office in Pretoria can assist you with this appeal process and you are welcome to contact Ms Sinaye Sikupela at 012 355 2907 or send her a mail at hr@cmvo.org.za