Business Day (SA)              DA Concerned About HIV/Aids Troops                 
30 September 2004 

 

By Wyndham Hartley , Parliamentary Editor

Cape Town 

 

The Democratic Alliance (DA) has expressed concern that the South African National Defence 
Force's (SANDF's) battle- readiness is severely compromised by soldiers with HIV/AIDS, 
leaving it unable to fulfil its constitutional obligations . 

A statement by DA defence spokesman Rafeek Shah yesterday followed reports by Jane's 
Defence Weekly correspondent HelmoedRomer Heitman that the SANDF did not have 
the operational capacity to perform its peacekeeping tasks. 

Heitman also said that, without a major airlift capability, the SANDF would be unable 
to evacuate the forces it had in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of Congo, should 
there be a real crisis. 

Parliament's defence committee was recently given a briefing by Defence Minister Mosiuoa 
Lekota and the chief of the SANDF, Gen Siphiwe Nyanda, on the readiness of the military. 
The meeting was closed to the public and the media . 

Yesterday, committee chairman Kader Asmal said he was confident that the SANDF could fulfil
its constitutional mandate. 

He said it was common knowledge the SANDF was "stretched" in some areas, but that issues 
such as disease and ailments in the ranks were being addressed. 

Shah said: " Previously, we raised the concern that the battlereadiness of the SANDF is 
severely compromised by the fact that, according to the SANDF itself, around 23% of its 
troops are HIV-positive. 

"This statistic, apart from the human cost it represents, is particularly devastating in 
the light of the fact that HIV-positive troops are legally precluded from participating in 
United Nations operations. " 

He said that further cause for "alarm" was the news that an internal defence force 
had been launched into allegations that fraudulent medical certificates had been issued to 
soldiers who were HIV-positive. 

"Evidence from a Chinese hospital in Kindu in the Democratic Republic of Congo reveals 
that a shocking number of SANDF members have tested positive for HIV. This reinforces 
the perception that all is not well with testing procedures at the SANDF," Shah said. 

" Jane's Defence Weekly's assessment reinforces earlier DA concerns that the SANDF is 
ill-equipped to carry out (its) mandate because it lacks in particular the ability to 
airlift large numbers of troops either to or out of conflict zones, and the necessary 
infantry combat vehicles ..." 

This again raised questions about the "appropriateness of the defence procurement package".