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More than 90% of the SANDF's reserves do not have alternative employment and do not receive an income if they are not called up.
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Six South African Defence Force (SANDF) Reserve Force members appeared in the Pretoria Commercial Crimes Court on Thursday for fraud.
According to NPA spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana, reserve force member Thandile Ndevu, 33, SANDF human resources clerk Khanya Ndevu, 29, Avuyile Ndzuta, 30, Thembisile Dlamini, 36, Thozamile Herbert Loni, 45, and Yonelisa Gova, 33, face 53 charges collectively for allegedly defrauding SANDF of R1.1 million.
Thandile, Khanya and Avuyile are cousins, while Dlamini and Loni are married and Gova is said to be friends with Thandile.
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Thandile is facing 53 counts of fraud or theft and 53 counts of money laundering. Khanya and Dlamini are each facing 11 counts of fraud or theft and 11 counts of money laundering. Ndzuta is facing 10 counts of fraud or theft, and 10 counts of money laundering. Gova is facing 21 counts fraud or theft and 21 counts of money laundering.
Ghost workers
Thandile’s responsibilities as a reserve force member under the HR unit included calling reserve force employees for service, capturing on the system the On Strength reserve force members who report for duty, as well as capturing their banking details on the system.
Between July 2018 and July 2019, while performing her duties, Thandile allegedly captured details of SANDF reserve force members as though they were called up (reported for duty) and replaced their banking details with those of her co-accused, where the payment for service was made.
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“This was discovered after one of the complainants in the matters whose details were used went to do her tax filing at the South African Revenue Service (Sars) and discovered that she had two IRP5 forms she needed to submit instead of the one she had brought. The complainant allegedly went back to the SANDF to enquire when the other four ghost workers were discovered,” said Mahanjana.
“The complainants then reported the matter to the Pretoria Central police station, and the matter was then transferred to the military police for investigation. After investigations by the military police, the six accused persons were summoned through J175 summons.”
The case was postponed to 15 August 2025 for plea and trial.
SANDF cash-strapped
In March, the Reserve Force Council (RFC) briefed the parliamentary portfolio committee on defence and painted a grim picture of the Reserve Force’s operations due to budgetary constraints.
More than 90% of the SANDF’s reserves do not have alternative employment and do not receive an income if they are not called up.
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“In the past, when we did not have any budgetary constraints, this was not an issue because reserve force members were called up continuously and were guaranteed a salary,” said Brigadier-General Zoleka Niyabo-Mana at the time.
The Reserve Force has also been struggling to keep up with the training of its members as required when they are deployed.
“You must always have combat-ready forces because when you have to deploy them, there is no time for training. However, we have been struggling with the continuation training required to ensure they remain combat-ready due to budgetary constraints,” said Niyabo-Mana.
“There are not sufficient funds for us to call up reserves at times, train them and utilise them. So the services are always balancing whether you call them up for training or to utilise them.”
The committee heard that the reserves are also ageing, as no new members have been recruited in the past six years.
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