City Press reports that former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe has been called up to serve as a colonel in the army, earning R57,000 a month.  Molefe, who has no military experience, started in August.  

He had, however, been appointed in 2009 as an honorary colonel of the SA Irish regiment, a part-time unit, and performed a wreath laying in that capacity in 2014.  According to internal defence force documents, Molefe was called up indefinitely in August for active service, even though reserve force members are usually only used for active service for three months at a time.  He was registered on this system on 23 August and his call up was backdated to 17 August so that he could receive his first salary by the end of August.  Defence Act regulations from 2009 explicitly stipulate that honorary members are not entitled to benefits or compensation.  Also, an honorary member must have “appropriate qualifications and training” for the post.  Defence Force spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini denied that Molefe was currently called up and said he was part of a pool of “specialists” who helped the army with “auditing queries” from the Auditor-General.

• Read this report by Erika Gibson in full at News24
• See too, Molefe-aanstelling in weermag is ‘korrupsie’, at Netwerk24 (limit on access)

Get other news reports at the SA Labour News home page