Rooikat vehicles formed part of the army’s response to the July 2021 riots. Photo: Rajesh Jantilal/ AFP/Getty
In the chaos of the violence in KwaZulu-Natal in July, thousands of Reserve Force soldiers responded to the call of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to report for duty. A number of sickly and elderly veterans and recruits seemingly also ended up among them, but now find themselves out in the cold.
The latter group of more than 800 were initially ordered not to go home; then they were sent home and more than four months later have not received the remuneration promised to them.
Now it would seem that fewer than 200 of the 800 reservists will receive any money at all.
Bus tickets were issued by the army to take the group to Umzimvubu Regiment in the Eastern Cape, but the army could not supply them with uniforms, mattresses or any medical assistance. They ended up sleeping on cardboard boxes in hastily erected tents and available buildings.
At least 10 in the group contracted Covid-19 and were cared for by non-medically trained staff at the regiment. As they were not registered on the army reserve system, the South African Military Health Services refused to provide treatment or medicine. According to some of the members in the group, two have subsequently died – one of Covid-19 and the other of a heart attack.
These details were confirmed by the SANDF and the matter is the subject of investigation by the military’s human resources department.
According to director of communications Brigadier General Andries Mahapa, the challenge with the payments was “due to some internal glitches relating to previous convictions of these members”.
Internal reports indicated that 256 of the group had “illicit activity reports” or criminal convictions. Another 170 had less serious marks against their names. All of the members were unemployed and were apparently urged to report by veterans’ organisations.
The group responded after the army issued an order on social media for all reserves to report for duty. Some reserve units only accepted active soldiers, while the inactive ones were channelled to Umzimvubu as part of Operation Prosper.
This order stated clearly that the soldiers had to report at their respective units with uniforms and equipment ready for deployment. It would seem as if the Umzimvubu group was then accepted as inactive reserves. This was further compounded by the army’s official call-up guidelines stipulating that “non-active” reserves were apparently included.
“The SANDF wishes to state that among other challenges, there are certain members who pitched up but did not meet the criteria to be called up at the time, due to reasons pertaining to the way they were discharged from the SANDF. A lengthy process to check their background was undertaken before they could be enlisted,” Mahapa said, explaining the predicament.
“Reserve force members who are facing non-payment are between 500 and 800 in total. Fewer than 200 of them did meet the criteria.”
Internal documents seen by the Mail & Guardian, which contained the minutes of a meeting of generals who visited the unit on 15 August, illustrated the army’s dilemma, with suggestions to even move the disputed group to yet another reserve base.
Major General Mzikayise Tyhalisi from the army’s support formation led the generals at the meeting where the soldiers were promised they would receive payment at 14 SA Infantry Battalion in Mthatha before being sent home. The group was assured they would be paid for the duration of their stay.
Two weeks later they were ordered via telephone to go home by yet another general with the promise that their money would follow. The leader group, who had to clean up the regiment and conclude all correspondence, left in mid-September.
Among the group were former members of Umkhonto weSizwe (MK), the Azanian People’s Liberation Army (Apla), and the armies of the former bantustans of Transkei, Bophuthatswana, Venda, Ciskei and others. All had at some stage done duty as Reserve Force soldiers who got called up as needed. However, most were non-active reserves due to age and ill health. Some used walking sticks and were sickly, one of the men told the M&G.
According to the correspondence, the leader group at the unit went to all bases in the area to collect blankets and whatever uniforms they could find. The group remained in civilian clothing as the army indicated it had no stock to issue uniforms, eating utensils or bedding.
The leader group at the regiment consisted of officers and senior non-commissioned officers who had to make sense of conflicting orders and instructions at a time when the Defence Force was trying to gather as many reserves as possible.
President Cyril Ramaphosa on 11 July announced the deployment of the defence force at the request of the police. Initially about 2 500 soldiers were sent to KwaZulu-Natal, but the number was changed to 25 000 as the violence in the province and in Gauteng continued to spiral out of control. The cost announced by Ramaphosa was an estimated R615-million.
The majority of those soldiers were reserves as active soldiers were already committed to borderline protection or peacekeeping deployments.
It is unclear from Mahapa’s response who in the army will foot the bill after the reconciliation of the costs incurred for the group. These include return bus fares, accommodation, and meals. According to the correspondence, the rations alone amounted to R17-million and the calculated salaries up to R23-million.
The final report on the Umzimvubu debacle reads: “The whole operation based on official communiqués was a process of confusion from the higher echelon and a total lack of command, communication and control. This led to the tarnished image of the SANDF and also that Reserve Force regiments simply do not comply with the call-up instructions.”
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