The South African Army on Tuesday refuted claims that it is recruiting child soldiers to join its ranks.
Responding to a social media post that went viral recently, South African Army commander Lawrence Mbatha said he was outraged by the “repeated efforts by faceless criminals to bring the South African Army into disrepute.”
“The recent use of various social media platforms targeting youths as young as 15 years old is absolutely unethical and incorrect, and should be condemned by all law-abiding citizens of our country,” Mbatha said.
According to a statement from the army, neither the South African Army nor the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) have engaged in the employment of child soldiers.
“The Constitution of the country and the relevant legal prescripts of government employment do not allow for the recruitment of minors,” the statement said.
“It is, therefore, illegal and unethical to suggest that the South African Army is calling for minors to apply for employment,” it added.
The army noted that scammers have resorted to luring desperate youths and their unsuspecting parents by offering stipends, free accommodation and free applications – a deviation from the crooks’ well-known modus operandi of asking for an application fee to make their advertisements enticing.
“The South African Army and the SANDF wish to reiterate categorically that there is currently no official marketing and recruitment drives of minors being conducted,” the statement said.
The army has since vowed to cooperate with the relevant law enforcement agencies to track, trace and bring to book the perpetrators of these “atrocious” criminal acts, it added.
NM/jn/APA