Soldiers take SANDF to court
2008-05-15 08:14
Special Report
The South African government has announced a joint venture to reduce the cost of anti-retroviral drugs with a Swiss company.
Johannesburg - A union representing South African soldiers is to take the country's armed forces to court on Thursday for alleged discrimination against HIV-infected personnel, it said Wednesday.
The South African Security Forces Union (Sasfu) is accusing the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) of discriminating against HIV-infected people by refusing them employment, promotion or deployment to foreign posts.
"They have got a policy of mandatory testing. Being HIV-negative is a pre-requisite to gain employment in SANDF," said Sasfu deputy president Charles Jacobs.
He said that after being employed, members of the military had to undergo mandatory HIV testing once a year during a health assessment, and every time they applied for a promotion or deployment overseas.
Jacobs said South Africa was the only country in the world whose military operated under these "unconstitutional" policies.
With 5½ million HIV infections in a population of 48 million, South Africa had the world's worst Aids problem and, according to Nonkosi Khumalo, a researcher with the Aids Law Project (ALP), up to 35% of defence force personnel was infected in 2004.
According to ALP, which fights for the legal rights of those living with HIV/Aids, the defence ministry has argued the army is too strenuous a place for those living with Aids.
"The argument that you cannot employ someone with HIV has been a lame excuse used by employers for a long time," said Khumalo at a Johannesburg media conference.
She said the ALP was representing Sasfu and three individuals in Pretoria High Court hearings which hoped to have the policies reviewed and set aside.
Difficult missions
"The problem is they haven't found better ways of dealing with the matter," she said.
Defence Minister Mosiua Lekota has been quoted as saying HIV-positive people could not be recruited as those needed had to be able to "withstand difficult missions".
However Sasfu and the ALP argued that HIV-infected people were able to function as normal and healthy citizens for many years with the correct medication.
Deputy-President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka addressing the SANDF last year, said: "HIV-positive individuals in the military should be given every opportunity to do the tasks for which they have been trained and which they are still fit to perform."
- AFP