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South Africa: Military Still 'Not Keen' on Employing HIV-Positive People
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Business Day (Johannesburg)
25 July 2008
Posted to the web 25 July 2008
Wilson Johwa
Johannesburg
AN HIV-positive soldier whom the military is obliged to consider for foreign deployment says he is again being overlooked.
Sipho Mthethwa, along with two others, took the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) to court in May, successfully arguing that the military's policy on HIV/AIDS was unconstitutional.
He said despite winning the battle in court, the department overlooked him in its foreign deployment, a month after the milestone court victory.
During the court case, the three maintained the military discriminated against prospective members and serving soldiers seeking promotion, training and external deployment opportunities.
The Pretoria High Court ruled that the military was to draft a new policy by November.
The court also ordered the military to consider Mthethwa for foreign deployment, a sought-after privilege that allows soldiers to earn more than their usual salaries. The court also determined that the military was to provide employment to a trumpeter whose job application had been turned down because of his status.
The Aids Law Project, which represented the South African Security Forces Union (SASFU) , said it had written to the state attorney demanding an explanation for Mthethwa not having been deployed.
"Failure to do so would again result in court action," said Mark Haywood, executive director of the organisation . "We believe that in spirit they are contemptuous of the very order of court that they consented to."
Mthethwa, a physical fitness instructor and also an expert in gun technology, this week said he had been overlooked when a team was deployed to the Democratic Republic of Congo about a month after the court judgment.
No explanation was given except that the chief of the defence force was yet to issue an order permitting his deployment -- the first time the SANDF would have allowed an HIV-positive member on an external mission.
Mthethwa, who is on anti-retroviral drug treatment, said another infantry unit was also preparing to deploy to Burundi next month but he has still had no word. "It is frustrating because the court order said that I must be considered for deployment immediately," he said.
A spokesman for the defence department , Sam Mkhwana zi, said HIV/AIDS was not the only health reason for a soldier being disqualified from deployment. "When you go through the comprehensive health assessment you must be 100% ," he said. Mthethwa said he went through such an assessment in January. "The only thing wrong with me was that I'm HIV-positive," he said.
Defending its HIV/AIDS policy in court, the SANDF argued that science could not yet guarantee that HIV-positive people could withstand the extremely stressful conditions associated with deployment. Fearing a deluge of applications before it had set guidelines spelling out how to deal with job applications from HIV-positive people , the SANDF had also sought to delay offering employment to the trumpeter.
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Yesterday SASFU national treasurer Matile Mmagare said he believed the trumpeter had not yet been employed by the military as he was away on a performance tour scheduled prior to the court ruling.
What difference does it matter if one is hiv or not the South African defence force is a farce, a spoilt and pampered army that`s job is to sit around looking pretty,one cannot realistcally come near to comparing it to the old battle hardened SADF who where agnowledged as the best bushfighters in the world,both black and white together. Now one fears for S.A i`m pretty sure that if even Zimbabwe was not so f----d up it could take the present bunch we have.I`ll give them one warning (which i`m sure they wont heed),"there`s a very very big country that... [Read Full Text]
Stick to your reasonable policy for employees and do not be bullied by others to be PC,
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