Umkhonto we Sizwe Military Veterans' Association chairman Kebby Maphatsoe said he was not a "sell-out" despite admitting that he ran away from the ANC military camp during the struggle, Sunday Times reported.
It was during his escape that he lost his arm, he told the paper in an interview.
He was shot by soldiers of the Ugandan army.
"My escape was for a good intention, I am not a sell-out," he was quoted as saying.
Maphatsoe, who is also the Deputy Defence and Military Veterans Minister, was accused earlier this week by MK veterans of ducking duty.
The MKMVA chairman told the paper that conditions in the ANC camp in Uganda were "unbearable".
He said he left due to excessive punishment, poor conditions and inadequate food at the camp, in order to report these to senior African National Congress leaders in South Africa.
There had previously been two contradicting versions of how Maphatsoe lost his arm.
In one version, Maphatsoe said he lost his arms in a car accident. In another, he said a hand grenade exploded in his hand.
According to the paper, Maphatsoe was shot when he tried to escape from the Ngoma camp.
He also admitted in the interview that he was expelled from the camp in the northern part of Uganda after he was discharged from hospital. He claimed that he returned to South Africa and went to explain himself to the ANC head office.