Soldiers fuming over WC cash
2010-10-07 22:59
Pretoria - Dissatisfaction is brewing among the approximately 9 700 soldiers who have found out that their allowances for the soccer World Cup will not be paid into their bank accounts next week.
This is despite the repeated written and verbal promises by highest authority in this regard.
Apparently the failure to make the payments is due to a lack of money to finance the defence force's entire expense account for the tournament of approximately R365m.
So far the defence force has only received R200m in addition to its budget to cover these expenses, while the soldiers' allowances alone amount to R245m.
The last police officials to receive their allowances got their money in September.
Lindiwe Sisulu, minister of defence, announced shortly before the Cup that soldiers would receive an increased "unique" allowance of R720 per day, just like their counterparts in the police.
In addition to this, soldiers would receive a daily inconvenience allowance of R80. Most of the soldiers were deployed for between 44 and 52 days for Operation Kgwele, while soldiers who guarded borders during this period qualified for the same allowances.
Credibility
Beeld has seen internal bulletins and letters about the matter, which confirmed that the money would be in their bank accounts this month (October).
The pay sheets for this month have been available since Wednesday, which showed for the first time that there's no sign of these payments.
One commander who spoke to Beeld said the non-payment has massive implications for his credibility among his subordinates.
These are not the only soldiers waiting in vain for payments.
About 300 soldiers who were deployed at airports and elsewhere to receive VIPs for President Jacob Zuma's inauguration in May last year are still waiting for their promised overtime pay.
These soldiers were assured ahead of time in their deployment orders that they would be compensated.
The department of international relations and co-operation would initially have paid the approximately R500 000 that the overtime would cost.
Later, however, this was modified and each defence force unit had to find the money in its own budget.
