SANDF women in porn fight

2003-03-04 22:13

Erika Gibson

Pretoria - A dispute over which employee of the defence force logged on to a pornographic website during office hours has led to special measures being introduced to ensure that this never happens again.

Brigadier General Bobo Moerane, director of the defence force's support management directorate, said a new register has been introduced where staff members have to sign in and out when using the internet.

This central internet workstation is locked and a staff member may only enter once the register has been completed.

These measures were put into place after a dispute between a civilian staffer and a female major in the directorate. The civilian filed a complaint because she suspected that the major had visited the website.

The confrontation between the two ended up in a scuffle in front of Moerane's office. The civilian filed an assault charge after the incident.

The relationship between the two women then deteriorated to such an extent that Moerane was called in as a mediator.

Assault charge

"The military court has to rule on the assault charge. It is outside my jurisdiction.

"I cannot act against a person just because of allegations. Nobody physically caught her visiting the website - and there are not enough grounds to prove that she is guilty beyond reasonable doubt.

"I tried to solve the matter by calling in both women and asking them to settle the dispute like adults.

"If people want to look at pornography, they should do so on their own time - not at work and not at the tax payer's expense."

Moerane said the register allows them to check the computer's hard drive to determine who visited which websites.

At the time of the incident, this was not possible.

"At the end of the day, this is about the job output the directorate has to maintain. This matter does not belong in the workplace."

- Beeld