Army chiefs on murder, rape, high treason charges suspended with full pay

MURDER, rape and high treason charges are just some of the reasons that 42 high-ranking South African National Defence Force officials and staff have been suspended with full pay.

This was revealed late last week in a written response by the department of defence to parliamentary questions submitted two months ago.

Some of the accused have been suspended for more than five years pending the outcome of their disciplinary hearings, costing taxpayers millions of rands.

Of the 42 officers and staff, three were accused of murder, six of rape, 11 of theft and three of high treason. Others were accused of arson, sexual harassment and a litany of other charges.

But the department evaded questions about the details of the incidents.

“We cannot divulge this as the cases have not been finalised yet ... the guilt or the innocence of those concerned has to be proved.

“Various procedures, including investigations and court processes, have not been completed,” the response read.

The disciplinary procedure in most of the cases had been delayed for more than a year for several reasons, including long investigations, outcomes of civil court matters and appeals.

The Democratic Alliance’s Rafeek Shah, who had submitted some of the queries to parliament, yesterday questioned the effect of the number of suspensions on the defence force.

“If you are going to be having such long delays before you can proceed, what happens to the vacuum created?

“Some are at high and mid-management level; how does that not interfere with the efficiency of the SANDF?” he asked.