‘Over 1 000 SANDF members charged’

THEY’RE supposed to serve and protect, but thousands of South Africa’s men and women in uniform were this week revealed to be convicted criminals.

With MPs still reeling from the news that 1 448 police officers, many of them high-ranking, were serving in the police force despite having been convicted of serious crimes, it has now emerged that more than 1 000 South African National Defence Force (SANDF) members had been charged with a criminal offence, with 203 convicted since 2009.

The SANDF statistics came in response to a parliamentary question by Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa Nqakula this week. DA MP David Maynier, asked for details on the number of criminal and disciplinary offences committed by civilian and uniformed members of the defence force.

The minister said 7 298 criminal cases were reported against uniformed members since 2009. Of these, 1 115 members had been charged and 203 prosecuted. A total of 441 cases were withdrawn.

A further 32 civilian members of the SANDF were convicted of criminal activity in the same period.

Ministerial spokesman Sonwabo Mbananga said he believed the figures only represented those members who had gone through the military justice system, and not through the criminal justice system, but he could not confirm this.

He referred questions to SANDF spokesman General Xolani Mabanga, who said he had not seen the response and could not comment on the issue.

While no details of the offences were available, recent cases involving SANDF members include:

In June it emerged that 93 SANDF members serving in the UN force in the DRC had charges against them. A total of 15 had been convicted of the charges at the time the minister made her announcement.

Last month it emerged that three of the four men arrested in the murder of Gauteng cop Tirhani Maswanganyi were defence force members, one of whom had a previous conviction for rape.

Two SANDF members last month also appeared in court in the Free State over robbing a tuckshop.