The Star reports that the Chief of the SA Army, Lieutenant General Lawrence Khulekani Mbatha, has expressed outrage over job scams being posted online, purported to be employment opportunities for people as young as 15 to join the military.

Mbatha said the fake job alerts were deceitful efforts by faceless criminals seeking to bring the SA Army into disrepute. He indicated: “Neither the SA Army nor the SANDF engages in the employment of child soldiers. The Constitution of the country and the relevant legal prescripts governing employment do not allow for the recruitment of minors. It is therefore illegal and unethical to suggest that the SA Army is calling for minors to apply for employment.” Unsuspecting job seekers and their families are lured into paying “application fees” by the scammers, who then vanish when the money is paid by the would-be soldiers. “Scammers have resorted to luring desperate youths and their unsuspecting parents by offering stipends, free accommodation and free applications, a deviation from the now well-known modus operandi of asking for an application fee to make their advertisement look and sound legitimate,” said Mbatha. He reiterated, categorically, that there were currently no official marketing and recruitment drives being conducted.

• Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Jonisayi Maromo at IOL

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