War Veterans Act [Chapter 11:15]

Chapter 11:15

War Veterans Act

Act 4/1992, 1/2000, 22/2001 (s. 4), 6/2005 (s. 34).

ARRANGEMENT OF SECTIONS

Section

1. Short title.
3. War Veterans Fund.
4. Income of Fund.
5. Object of Fund.
6. Application of Fund.
7. Establishment of schemes.
8. Holding of Fund.
9. Payments out of Fund.
10. Accounts and audit of Fund.
11. Establishment of War Veterans Board.
12. Disqualifications for appointment to Board.
13. Vacation of office by member of Board.
14. Minister may require member of Board to vacate office.
15. Meetings and procedure of Board.
16. Functions of Board.
17. Powers of Board.
18. Reports of Board.
19. Appeals from decisions of Board.
20. Minister may give directions to Board.
21. Inalienability of assistance.
22. Director of War Veterans and other staff.
23. Beneficiary to report receipt of assistance from any other source.
24. Offences and penalties.
25. Repayment of sums overpaid.

AN ACT to provide for the establishment of schemes for the provision of assistance to war veterans and their dependants; to provide for the establishment of a fund to finance such assistance; to provide for the constitution and functions of the War Veterans Board; and to provide for matters incidental to or connected with the foregoing.

[Date of commencement: 31st March, 1995.]

1    Short title

This Act may be cited as the War Veterans Act [Chapter 11:15].

                       2    Interpretation

In this Act—

“assistance” means any assistance rendered out of the Fund to a war veteran or to a dependant of a war veteran or deceased war veteran;

“Board” means the War Veterans Board established by section eleven;

“dependant”, in relation to a war veteran or deceased war veteran, means—

• a child, including a step-child, legally adopted child or child born posthumously, who has not attained the age of eighteen years and is or was at the date of death of the war veteran dependent upon him for support; or
• a widow or widower of a war veteran; or
• any person not referred to in paragraph (a) or (b) who is wholly or partly maintained by the war veteran or who was, at the date of the death of the war veteran and for a reasonable period before that date, wholly or partly maintained by the war veteran;

as the case may be;

“Director” means the Director of War Veterans referred to in section twenty-two;

“Fund” means the War Veterans Fund established by subsection (1) of section three;

“Minister” means the Minister of Public Service, Labour and Social Welfare or any other Minister to whom the President may, from time to time, assign the administration of this Act;

“scheme” means a scheme established in terms of section seven;

“vocational training” includes any form of education or training which, in the opinion of the Minister, will permit a war veteran to support himself and his dependants or will increase his capacity to do so;

“war veteran” means any person who underwent military training and participated, consistently and persistently, in the liberation struggle which occurred in Zimbabwe and in neighbouring countries between the 1st January, 1962, and the 29th February, 1980, in connection with the bringing about of Zimbabwe’s independence on the 18th April, 1980.

                       3    War Veterans Fund

• There is hereby established a fund to be known as the War Veterans Fund.
• The trustee of the Fund shall be the Minister, in whom the Fund shall be vested and who, subject to this Act, shall have the sole management, control and use of the Fund.

                       4    Income of Fund

The Fund shall consist of—

• moneys appropriated for the purpose of the Fund by Parliament; and
• any gifts or grants made to the Fund by any person or authority or by the government of any country; and
• any interest derived from or increase in any assets of the Fund in any form whatsoever; and (d) any other moneys to which the Fund may be lawfully entitled.

                       5    Object of fund

Subject to this Act, the object to which the Fund may be applied shall be the rendering of assistance in terms of this Act to war veterans and their dependants.

                       6    Application of Fund

In order to give effect to the object of the Fund, the Fund may be applied to any one or more of the following—

• grants to war veterans and their dependants who lack means of subsistence;
• grants for the physical, mental or social rehabilitation of war veterans;
• grants for manpower development with a view to providing war veterans with academic, technical, vocational or other skills or any other training necessary to equip them for employment or gainful occupation;
• the provision of loans, whether with or without interest, and financial, technical, managerial or any other form of assistance to war veterans involved in income-generating projects, whether as individuals or as members of groups or co-operative societies;
• grants for funeral expenses in respect of war veterans.

                       7    Establishment of schemes

• Subject to subsections (3) and (4), the Minister may, by statutory instrument, establish one or more schemes for the provision of benefits or assistance to or in respect of any war veterans and their dependants or any classes of war veterans and their dependants, and may in like manner amend or abolish any such scheme.
• A statutory instrument in terms of subsection (1) may provide for—
• the registration of war veterans generally or the registration of war veterans entitled to benefit under any scheme;
• the registration of dependants of war veterans entitled to benefit under any scheme;
• the compulsory submission of any war veteran to any medical or dental examination required for the purpose of benefiting under any scheme;
• the circumstances and manner in which any benefit paid to a war veteran shall or may be refunded;
• the conditions for eligibility of a war veteran for any assistance;
• the conditions upon which the dependants of a war veteran or of a deceased war veteran may qualify for assistance;
• the nature and amount of the benefits to be granted or paid under any scheme the circumstances in which and the persons to whom such benefits shall or may be granted or paid and the manner in which they shall be granted or paid;
• the provision of technical or vocational training or of any other training necessary for assisting war veterans in acquiring such skills as the Minister considers appropriate;
• the reduction, suspension or withdrawal of any benefit granted or paid under any scheme;
• the maintenance of records in respect of any benefits granted or paid to any war veteran under any scheme;
• any other manner whatsoever for which, in the opinion of the Minister, it is necessary or desirable to make provision in order to give effect to this Act or any scheme.
• Without derogation from section 21 of the Interpretation Act [Chapter 1:01], a statutory instrument in terms of subsection (1) may provide for different benefits to be granted or paid to different categories of war veterans:

Provided that no statutory instrument shall discriminate between persons on the ground of race, tribe, place of origin, political opinion, colour or creed.

• Before establishing, amending or abolishing any scheme in terms of this section, the Minister shall obtain the approval of the Minister responsible for finance.
• Notwithstanding section six, any pension benefits payable under any scheme shall be paid from the Consolidated Revenue Fund, which is hereby appropriated for the purpose.

[Subsection inserted by section 2 of Act 1 of 2000]

• In subsection (5)—

“pension benefit” means any pension, commutation of pension, gratuity or other like allowance, including any interest thereon, payable to a war veteran or to a dependant or personal representative of a war veteran.

[Subsection inserted by section 2 of Act 1 of 2000]