Pretoria - Over the past eight months, the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) has paid over R5m per month to suspended soldiers who are sitting at home.
These soldiers marched to the Union Buildings to protest over their salaries.
This means the SANDF has already spent R41m on soldiers who have not been working during this period.
If the court battle over their suspension and the High Court interdict against the suspension were to drag on for another 18 months, it will cost the SANDF over R100m to pay soldiers who are of no use during this time.
Civil court
According to Pikkie Greeff of the SA National Defence Union (Sandu), the SANDF last year insisted on taking these soldiers to civil court precisely because the military legal system would take too long.
"However, a military court functioning as it's supposed to would have been able to conclude this case a long time ago. The minister of defence (Lindiwe Sisulu) also argued that the case should be heard in a civil court 'in the interest of national security', but now the case will cost the tax payer over R100m if it takes up to two years to conclude," said Greeff.
Initially 1 200 soldiers were suspended after the protest action.
The North Gauteng High Court declared the protest illegal, but by then the soldiers had already gathered in Pretoria. When they subsequently marched to the Union Buildings, where representatives were to inform them of the court's verdict, the police opened fire on the protesters with rubber bullets.
The SANDF said afterwards that 1 200 of the approximately 3 000 soldiers who took part in the process had been "positively identified" as the ringleaders of the march.
According to Greeff, it is not clear why only 861 are currently still on leave.
Part-time soldiers
After the incident, (some) soldiers who were deployed elsewhere on official business were also informed that they had been suspended, since they hadn't been at work on that particular day.
Most of the soldiers who were suspended were from 2 SA Infantry Battalion, Zeerust (298), 200 were from 10 SAI in Mafikeng, 130 from 4 SAI in Middelburg and 108 from 21 SAI in Johannesburg.
Greeff said part-time soldiers have had to be summoned to help, which means the army is paying for extra soldiers while hundreds of others are sitting at home.
"The way the defence force is handling this matter is going to carry a hefty price tag for both the SANDF and taxpayers."
http://www.news24.com/SouthAfrica/News/R5m-a-month-for-suspended-troops-20100509