Simelane sen. challenges SANDF rank

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File picture of Bheki Simelane Pic:Boxer Ngwenya

Johannesburg - National Director of Public Prosecutions Menzi Simelane's father Bheki has filed a court application in a long-running dispute over the rank he was given when integrated into the SA National Defence Force (SANDF), he said on Friday.

Simelane sen. argued that he should have been graded a lieutenant-general and not a colonel, according to papers received by Sapa on Friday,

He said he was a member of the Azanian Peoples' Liberation Army (Apla) and later Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK), the armed wing of the ANC, during the struggle against apartheid.

Seven forces, including the SA Defence Force, APLA and MK, integrated to form the SANDF, which was established on April 27, 1994 under the interim Constitution.

He believes that instead of being given an equivalent rank to that he held, he was demoted during the integration.

This had an adverse impact on him financially then and was now affecting his pension.

The Labour Court ruled against him previously, hence his decision to appeal.

The respondents had until August 31 to file answering papers, he said.

The respondents include the minister of defence and military veterans, the Public Service Commission and the African National Congress.

Simelane sen. has also alleged that there was fraud in his rank allocation.

In a pile of documents he sent to Sapa, he also referred to a complex dispute regarding his being struck off the roll as an attorney in the early 1980s.

He further alleged there had been a plot by apartheid-era security forces and prime minister PW Botha to kill him when he was still in Apla, before he crossed to the ANC.

According to the papers, he left South Africa and sought political asylum in Lesotho in the early 1980s, then went to the United Kingdom and finally to Zimbabwe.

He also disputed taking R50,000 meant for an accident victim.

His son is currently on special leave while the Constitutional Court deliberates an application regarding the validity of his appointment as the country's chief prosecutor. - Sapa