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Lekota Charged for Lohatla Bloodbath |
| Publication |
The Star |
| Date | 2007-11-29 |
| Reporter | Nadine Visagie |
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Web Link |
A criminal charge has been laid against Defence
Minister Mosiuoa Lekota by the South African National Defence Union (Sandu) for
failure to report the Lohatla incident to the department of labour.
Nine soldiers from 10 Anti-Aircraft Regiment, situated just outside Kimberley,
died on October 12 during Exercise Seboka when an anti-aircraft gun
malfunctioned.
Angry soldiers on Wednesday marched to the Northern Cape department of labour to
hand over a memorandum in which they called upon the department of labour to
investigate the Lohatla incident.
The acting national secretary of Sandu, JG Greeff, said that even though the
department of defence was subject to the Occupational Health and Safety (OHS)
Act, no 181 of 1993, it had failed to report the incident
to the department of labour.
He said that the department of labour had taken the initiative to engage the
department of defence three days later in order to ensure further compliance
with the relevant act.
He added that the department of defence did not have enough OHS safety
representatives and that no safety representative had been present at the
incident.
"This was despite the fact that soldiers are expected to function in an
environment rife with extremely dangerous equipment and situations."
Greeff said that many other incidents which had
resulted in the loss of life and limb of soldiers in the workplace had occurred
last year, without any investigation or even reporting
of such incidents by the department to the department of labour.
He added that the time had come for a thorough
investigation of the SANDF in this regard and for stringent measures to
be taken even if it included the closing down of certain workplaces in the SANDF.
"We reject the investigation established by a
murderous *2 minister and are putting all our hopes
on the department of labour," the chief negotiator, Jeff Dubazana, said during
the protest march on Wednesday.
The soldiers also demanded a 19 percent increase in salaries, adding that the
country's soldiers were the lowest-paid government workers.
"Thousands of soldiers are working on a contract basis. Do they have to get
themselves injured before being permanently employed?" asked Dubazana.
One soldier, who took part in Wednesday's march, was outraged by the fact that
none of the units at Lohatla had closed on the day of the incident and that
everything carried on as usual.
He said it was a definite sign of disrespect for the dead and the injured
soldiers.
"I was a guard of honour on that day for Minister Lekota and I saw that they
were more concerned about drinking than what had
actually happened," the soldier said.
He added that the accident occurred as a result of
negligence on the part of the department of defence as soldiers had
not been fully trained in anti-aircraft weapons *1.
"It is this incompetent leadership that is
killing us *3. A retired general should rather
become the Minister of Defence - at least he would have some insight," another
soldier said.
Dubazana said there would be a march in Limpopo on Thursday.
*2
*3