Former MK members are dismissed from SANDF

The government discharged 2,221 trainees who had gone absent without leave in October from the newly instituted South African National Defence Force (SANDF). After they were released, defence minister Johannes (Joe) Modise set midnight, 6 November, as deadline for their return. More than 4000 trainees complied with the minister's deadline and returned to camp. The trainees cited their unhappiness with the slow pace of integration into the SANDF and conditions in the camp. All the dismissed recruits were former members of the armed wing Umkhonto we Sizwe (MK) of the African National Congress (ANC). Those who failed to return, were viewed as deserters who missed an opportunity to remain in the SANDF. The ANC Pretoria-Witwatersrand and Vereeniging (PWV) regional congresses paid attention to the trainees' complaints and called on the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence to immediately act on the findings in its report on conditions in the military camp at Wallmansthal, north of Pretoria. The report recommended the improvement of conditions in the camp.