Dear Editor,
At least 1 200 soldiers were out of line and now you and I may eventually pay them R100m to stay at home. I don’t sit well with this at all. What a nice form of discipline it seems.
Reading the article R5m a month for suspended troops, it seems that this situation may take months to sort out. Meanwhile the perpetrators enjoy an extended holiday.
Should these soldiers not rather be placed back in service with something like half-pay and still serve their country?
If this was a private company, using their profits to pay someone while suspended, I could understand it to an extent, but these are soldiers, serving the nation using tax payers’ money.
The SANDF is cash-strapped as it is and the tax payer again has to carry the cost resulting from poor management. From the article it appears that the military court is dysfunctional and cannot serve justice. Now the civil courts have to step in.
This situation reminds me of the tax burden we carry to keep prisoners comfy. Should they not “earn” their stay by maintaining infrastructure, fixing potholes for example? After all, they do owe a department to society. They are a potential work force, yet they sit idle enjoying free meals, TV, and a warm bed.
On one hand it seems as if the country’s disciplinary systems have become lenient. On the other hand it seems to be tangled in a web of red tape.
Is it not the innocent tax payer that is being punished here?
Greg Saunders
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