The South African government initially reinforced this, passing legislation and devising programmes to help ex-combatants in South Africa to disarm, demobilise, and reintegrate into society (a DDR programme); and to provide them with some form of reward for their service. However, this did not last. As has been found in both this paper, and in others, ex-combatants in South Africa are currently a marginalised group, facing numerous difficulties and hardships. This has also now been acknowledged by government, with a Briefing to the Portfolio Defence Committee admitting that during the process "there had been problems ... and it had been painful as wen" (Parliamentary Monitoring Group, 2004b).

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Handmaker, Jeff
hdl.handle.net/2105/9208
Human Rights, Development and Social Justice (HDS)
International Institute of Social Studies

Villiers Graaff, Karen de. (2007, November). The reintegration of ex-combatants in South Africa: Past difficulties and future challenges. Human Rights, Development and Social Justice (HDS). Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/2105/9208