The Democratic Alliance on Wednesday said it was not convinced that the HIV/Aids figure for the SA National Defence Force as given by Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota was correct.
Lekota on Tuesday said the HIV/Aids rate for the SANDF was ”not more than” 23%.
He was reacting to media reports at the weekend that the infection rate was as high as 60% in the 60 000-strong force.
”That is the most ridiculous and most dangerous assertion,” he said.
Lekota said the new figure was representative of the entire military and based on the screening of recent recruits and existing SANDF members.
DA defence representative Hendrik Schmidt said a study by the defence force’s own Centre for Military Studies found that the HIV infection rate in defence forces was generally two to five times that of a country’s national HIV infection rate.
According to UNAids the most recent figure for South Africa was 20,1%.
In its introduction the report, written in mid-2000, said there were several reasons for a higher figure: ”Most are young, male and sexually active, are deployed for lengthy periods away from home, subject to peer pressure, prone to risk taking and often exposed to opportunities for casual sex and sex workers. Bachelor conditions, alcohol abuse and regular pay are seen as contributing factors, propagating infection among the armed forces, especially in poverty stricken areas.”
Turning to South Africa, the report said a comprehensive health assessment conducted by the SA Military Health Service among the SA Army’s units most frequently deployed placed HIV infection at around 20%.
However, it said that figure too was questionable, ”as only selected units were tested, tests were voluntary and HIV positive members could already have self-selected themselves away from these units, knowing they could be tested”.
”Armed with this report, although dated, the minister should perhaps again confront his Surgeon General and establish the truth before reporting back to the nation,” Schmidt said. – Sapa