Cape Town – Long-serving SANDF member Major Fatima Isaacs is expected to appear before the Court of Military Justice at the Castle of Good Hope today
over her refusal to remove her headscarf from under her formal military beret.
Isaacs was charged in June with “failing to obey a lawful instruction” after she refused an order from a senior officer.
In August, she announced that she had changed legal representatives and the matter was postponed until this month.
Isaacs works as a clinical forensic pathologist at 2 Military Hospital in Wynberg, and has been a member of the SANDF for the past 10 years.
Labour specialist Nazeema Mohamed, who is legally advising Isaacs, said the Legal Resources Centre was now representing the major.
“They have provided us with a senior attorney who will be providing Major Isaacs with legal advice.
‘‘The military is still going through their court process regarding the headscarf.
“But remember there is another charge of disobeying a lawful command. Let’s see what they do with that,” she said.
In July the SANDF, the Muslim Judicial Council of SA (MJC) and Isaacs’s legal team agreed on interim relief that allows for Muslim women serving in the force to wear an under-scarf.
Mohamed said that following the interim relief, they now hoped the charges would be dismissed.
The MJC had written to SANDF Chief Solly Zacharia Shoke in August, urging the military to “expedite the issue as one of urgency”.
Legal adviser Igshaan Higgins said that he no longer represented Isaacs but was acting for the MJC and that the military legal process was still in process regarding the direct order being disobeyed.
SANDF spokesperson Mafi Mgobozi did not respond to requests for comment by deadline.