Question NW1999 to the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans
17 September 2020 - NW1999
Marais, Mr S to ask the Minister of Defence and Military Veterans
(1)Whether she has been informed that soldiers belonging to the 4 Parachute Battalion which was established in 2014 have invested in houses and established their families in schools and the community; if not, what is the position in this regard; if so, has consideration been given to (a) costs and (b) trauma that will come as a result of resettling the families in Bulembu; (2) whether her department will assist with the costs to resettle the families in the Eastern Cape; if not, why not; if so, what are the costs involved?
Reply:
1. 4 Parachute Battalion was never established in 2014, members of 44 Parachute Regiment were sent to the North West from Bloemfontein as part of the team to compile a feasibility study for the establishment of 4 Parachute Battalion, (a) and (b) all members of the SANDF, on enrolment into the organisation, are fully aware that they will be utilised where the organisation requires their services and cannot be declared area-bound.
2. Whenever the ministerial authority is obtained for the establishment of 4 Parachute Battalion, or any other unit, anywhere in the Republic, members have access, through HR policies to resettle their families, within prescripts of the DOD. Resettlement benefits to which members are entitled to include: subsistence and travel expenses for the official and one direct member of his/her family to the new place of work prior to the date of transfer; subsistence and travel of the official and the household arising from the transfer to the new place of work; removal of household and personal effects from the old place of work to the new workplace in the Republic, resettlement costs; transfer fees and bond cost, if the official purchases a dwelling or building site at the new place of work within the same metropolitan area (subject to policy requirements); for each school-going child who must change school and who is dependent on the official, the DOD may provide a once-off amount for new school uniforms (clothing and footwear); interim accommodation, if the official and the immediate family must rent interim furnished accommodation at the old and/or new place of work; travel expenses of dependent schoolchildren and 50% financial assistance with boarding school and lodging fees on transfer, if the child must remain in a school near the official’s former place of work.