BDF moves to cushion resignations

Though the Commander of BDF Lieutenant General Tebogo Masire has denied that the army is losing soldiers in great numbers, it has been found that indeed many are leaving either to engage in self-employment or for greener pastures. The most affected cadres are officers who possess scarce skills desired by the private sector such as law, medicine, information technology, engineering and science-related fields.

General Masire said early this year that the number of soldiers who have left the army did not even account for a fraction of those who were joining. But interviews with some soldiers, who preferred to remain anonymous, revealed that there is a lot of frustration stemming from bad working conditions and what some term as modern day slavery and indignity, as the reason for mass resignations.