Lesley Kgogo was 17 years old when he traded a school uniform for military fatigues and joined the armed wing of the African National Congress in the fight to overthrow the apartheid regime in South Africa.

He was among thousands who trained and slept in bush camps in other countries and then returned to join the insurgency that ultimately helped to topple the repressive white-minority government.

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More than 40 years later, in a democratic South Africa now led by the African National Congress, Mr. Kgogo slept outside the party headquarters in protest, joining dozens of other former combatants who say that the government they helped install has overlooked their great personal sacrifice.

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They are demanding benefits they say were promised to them years ago as the armed units were disbanded — pensions, housing and scholarships for their children.

“I liberated the country, people are enjoying the benefits of it and I am still nothing, not even respected by my own government,” said Mr. Kgogo, who is 58 and lives in Soweto.

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Some of these veterans of South Africa’s liberation struggle grabbed the country’s attention last week with a confrontational protest that landed 53 of them in jail. On Tuesday, they were charged with kidnapping.

The police and prosecutors say the charges resulted from an incident last Thursday, when the veterans barricaded the doors of a hotel ballroom and refused to let Thandi Modise, the country’s minister of defense and military veterans, leave. She was held with two other government officials. After nearly three hours, police broke down the door and arrested the veterans.

The protesting veterans say their frustration had boiled over but that the authorities’ response was exaggerated.

Among those who fought to liberate South Africa from apartheid, some joined the ranks of the new government, while others went on to become successful business owners, capitalizing on political connections forged in exile. But many others have fallen into poverty and despair, and now a group of disgruntled former combatants is demanding a share of the spoils of freedom.

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