DURBAN - THE South African National Defence Union (SANDU) has given the Defence and Military Veterans Minister Thandi Modise an ultimatum to immediately provide starving soldiers with food or it would take the necessary action.
This comes after the Daily News published a story on Tuesday detailing the dire situation of starving soldiers who were deployed in KwaZulu-Natal last month when the civil unrest erupted in this province and Gauteng.
On Tuesday, SANDU released a statement and also instructed their lawyers, Griesel Breytenbach Attorneys, to write to the ministry making it clear the situation was unacceptable and demanded the defence minister intervene or face legal action.
The union’s secretary, advocate JG Pikkie Greeff, said: “The SANDF troops deployed under Operation Prosper, particularly in KZN, are subjected to a shortage of either rations and/or are not being paid the daily meal allowances needed to sustain them while deployed.”
“The longer this issue remains unresolved, the more demoralised the troops become, which in itself poses a risk, as high morale is a prerequisite for efficient military operations.
“The situation in its current form casts serious questions in the public eye on the professional functioning of the SANDF, which is the last thing South Africa needs under current circumstances,” said Greeff.
According to their lawyer’s letter to the defence minister, the “Operation Prosper” units deployed in the northern KZN regions were either fed one meal per day, with some days not receiving any rations/food, or were not being paid the meal allowances provided for in an Army Order for them to be able to buy food daily.
“In some instances, it has even been reported to SANDU that an Officer Commanding had used his personal funds to provide his troops with a meal for the day.
“The situation is further exacerbated by the fact that deployed troops in Gauteng under the same operation have had ample access to rations and/or meal allowances to sustain them during the deployment. This anomalous situation is being circulated among troops and ranks deployed everywhere.
“SANDU has, for the past four days, attempted to engage higher-level command structures in an attempt to resolve this unacceptable situation. However, no Department of Defence official could provide SANDU with any proposed solution or plan of action,” the letter read.
“Hundreds of troops are being prejudiced to the extreme, while their Officers Commanding are being placed in a precarious and awkward position as the latter have no viable explanation and/or solution forthcoming from their higher chain of command.”
The law firm warned that the false social media reports doing the rounds alleging that certain soldiers were going to withdraw due to the situation, risked the continuation of being sensationalised when the matter could be dealt with swiftly by the military command.
“It is obvious that the longer the situation remains unattended, the direr the situation becomes, and the fact remains that, at the date of this letter, several hundreds of troops are suffering this fate.”
Reacting to SANDU’s steps, a source told the Daily News that “soldiers at Hammarsdale base were relieved and hoped things would fall into place”.
SANDF spokesperson Brigadier-General Mafi Mgobhozi had not commented by the time of publication.
Sources within the army in KZN, who spoke to the Daily News this week on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal, told the publication that they desperately needed help to put pressure on the state to meet its obligations and feed the hungry soldiers, who have been hard at work assisting the police to restore order over the past two months.
One source alleged that more than 220 soldiers based at Estcourt Secondary School have thus far received only R600 for meals since they were deployed on July 15.
“We are paid between R16 000 and R18 000 before deductions, so can you imagine what this is doing to us? Deploying us and never (providing) food and clean water,” said the source.
He added that one of the soldiers had to be rushed to hospital last Thursday when his body collapsed after weeks of starvation, as he did not have money to buy food.
Mgobhozi had told the Daily News that a meeting was held on Monday and had resolved to attend to the issues.
He acknowledged that there were problems with the administration which, among other matters, emanated from the roll-call, which helped indicate who was at work and what was needed.
Daily News