Soldiers protest ill-timed transfers
Tefo Pheage | Tuesday January 17, 2017 18:00
This follows recent multi-rank transfers, which servicemen and women say are being done without due diligence and consideration of the affected. Some of the affected members have argued that the transfers did not take into consideration some issues like transfer of families and schoolgoing children transfers as well as the challenges faced by transferred service members who are furthering their studies in nearby institutions.
“We are family men and women. If you are informed late about your transfer it affects almost everything about your life because if you are transferring me you are also transferring everything about my life including my family. As a parent you have the responsibility to look for spaces for your children who will be transferring and if you do not struggle you end up finding spaces in places you had not bargained for,” revealed the source who preferred anonymity.
He continued that the army was amused at the latest developments, which he said was a divergence from the norm.
“A lot of transferred service members are unhappy but a few who have raised concerns have been informed that duty comes first and that the army deals with no one but its member who it fully takes care of,” he said further adding that “they forget that they have neglected the psychological side which may leave the same army member disturbed and unable to fully and satisfactorily perform his or her duties”.
Some sources said some of their children and dependents need special attention hence the importance of timely informing the affected people and making timely preparations. The source further said some members have enrolled in various nearby institutions of learning for night courses to supplement their studies and late notifications compromise them.
The army declined to deny or confirm that it is true that there are some service members who have expressed displeasure at the way the transfer notifications are being handled.
In response to Mmegi, the deputy Director of the Directorate of Protocol and Public Affairs, Lieutenant Colonel Fikani Machola said the matters are purely internal. “The deployment of BDF personnel to include transfers are purely internal and administrative matters which cannot be discussed in detail with the public,” he said.
Machola continued: “Nevertheless the BDF has always considered the welfare of its members in regard to their deployment”.
The transfers have affected a wide range of ranks from private to major with the Battalion unit being amongst the most affected.
The issue of transfers and assignments has been raised previously by Major General Mpho Mophuting when addressing the issue of the introduction of servicewomen in the BDF in one of his papers.
In that paper, he hints on several sobering questions: what effects do policies regarding the assignment have upon military families, children, and the society? Should serviceman husband and servicewoman wife be stationed together? Who looks after the children when both parents are deployed, or when the father or mother is a single parent? How much does having a husband and family hinder a servicewoman’s career or vice versa? These are the kinds of questions that the BDF will have to struggle with when it decides on sound parental and family policies.
According to him, “it is important that the BDF develop an accommodating policy that will allow women to lead a normal life as well as effectively perform the tasks required of them.”