The Department of Home Affairs (DHA) is investigating a general who appears to have become four years “younger” while he was in the defence force.
City Press reports that Brigadier General Vuyo Luke, inspector general of the SA Military Health Service (SAMHS), retires at the end of February at the age of 60. However, it appears that his identity number was changed in 2015.
According to his first identity number, Luke should have retired four years ago, but, thanks to this change, he was able to earn his salary until now, which means that he earned four years more salary and thus has a larger pensionable income, Erika Gibson reported for the publication.
Her City Press report added that a thorough investigation is under way into the reason for the change to the general’s identity number, which made the general younger.
Last year, whistleblowers asked the defence minister to investigate the issue urgently before his pension was paid to him, but months later they are still waiting for an answer.
When asked, Luke said the mix-up with his ID numbers started in 1994. He said he had no identity documents when he was in exile before that date, as part of the uMkhonto weSizwe forces. With these forces’ return to South Africa and the integration of members into the defence force, the Department of Home Affairs issued documents for them.
According to Luke, his number was wrong. He was born on 10 February 1964 and not on 2 October 1960, as indicated in his 1994 ID. On 25 February 2015, the date was changed on the database.
