The South African National Defence Union (SANDU) has threatened to file an urgent court application against the Department of Defence for failing to provide reasons why members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) returning from deployment in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are being quarantined in South Africa.
SANDU alleges that various groups of SANDF soldiers have arrived in the country since last week and have been quarantined under “appalling conditions”, including overcrowding in small, leaking tents, insufficient electricity supply and poor nutrition at the De Brug military camp in Bloemfontein.
Speaking on YOU FM Newshour, the union’s National Negotiator, Jeff Dubazana, said they were still awaiting responses from the department regarding the decision to quarantine soldiers without providing valid reasons.
“What is puzzling us is that a single tent is accommodating 10 defence members, which defeats the purpose if they are being quarantined because of fears of an outbreak linked to their deployment. But it goes further because members from the first, second and third groups were all placed in the same area when they landed,” said Dubazana.
The union argued that despite raising concerns about the decision, no response had been forthcoming from the department.
“There should be a legal basis for one to do that, especially because there has been no declaration of a health emergency in the country, either by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) or the National Department of Health.
“There has never been a declaration, even between people travelling between the DRC and Uganda, or people generally travelling from the DRC to South Africa.
“Now we do not understand on what grounds our members are being quarantined, and in the absence of a legal basis, we are simply calling on them to immediately lift that quarantine,” he emphasised.
Dubazana highlighted that the department had effectively ignored the union, leaving members frustrated, feeling abused and undervalued.
“How is the department explaining quarantining people under such conditions? Our understanding of quarantining someone as a result of an outbreak of a disease is that you simply isolate a person from others due to fears of further spread of the disease. But here, we are left confused,” explained Dubazana.
He added that some soldiers only received brunch yesterday afternoon, meaning they had gone through the entire morning without food.
“There is also a problem with food because more than 40 of them did not receive meals at that time because the food had run out,” remarked Dubazana.
SANDU had given the department until close of business on Wednesday to respond to its queries and threatened to approach the courts on an urgent basis to compel the department to immediately release members who are currently quarantined.
