Starting 30 years ago as South Africa’s first military trade union, the SA National Defence Union (Sandu) continues to be a thorn in the side of senior SA National Defence Force (SANDF) management, taking up cudgels on behalf of paid-up members.
The benefits, many earned in court appearances, generally apply to all military uniform-wearing personnel. Two such instances are currently the subject of Sandu attention and on hold while, in one, a court decision is awaited. The other is the apparently planned move of two SA Army formation headquarters to an uninhabitable building.
As is normal practice for the military labour organisation it ensures its 14 000 members are regularly updated.
On the issue of technical allowances for artisans in the Department of Defence (DoD) Works Formation, the latest is Sandu awaits the Ministry of Defence lodging legal papers with the North Gauteng High Court in Pretoria. These will, according to Sandu, be to rescind an earlier court order stating technical allowance payments – for 16 Works Formation artisans – have to be made. At the time of publishing no date had been set for the next round of legal wrangling with Sandu noting in its latest update “our papers are filed and in order”.
The planned early February move to the five-structure Bester Building complex, west of SA Army headquarters on Kgosi Mampuru Street in Pretoria, of the headquarters components of the Support and Infantry formations also landed in the North Gauteng High Court where it was stopped.
Post the court decision, contractors were apparently working on making the Bester Building complex fit for human occupation. This was what Sandu said after it was part of a Department of Employment and Labour (DEL) occupational health and safety (OHS) on-site inspection.
“Various building activities”, the military labour organisation said, mean “no personnel are allowed to enter the building”. It further noted contractors were not wearing “the necessary PPE (personal protective equipment) and supervision”. This saw, Sandu said, an order to “leave the premises until such time as the contractors are compliant”.
Its latest Bester Building update reads, in part, “once completed the DoD will have to produce electrical compliance, fire safety, and structural engineering certification before DEL will allow any SANDF employees to move in or occupy the building”.
This effectively puts Minister Motshekga’s hopes of improving security, minimising traffic congestion and reducing the DoD/SANDF lease footprint on hold for the foreseeable future with regard to the Bester complex.
