Disgruntled ex-BDF soldiers demand pay

Botswana Government could be sitting on a ticking time bomb by not living up to its promise to pay ex- Botswana Defense Force officers their forfeited leave days and adjustment to their retirement package.

The disgruntled ex-soldiers are not happy that government and the immediate employer the BDF are playing hide and seek with their payments as they have waited for years to be paid their forfeited leave days. 

What angers them is that Minister of Defence Justice and Security, Shaw Kgathi, last year told Parliament that some of them have been paid the forfeited leave days together with the in-service officers. 

It is alleged that about 12 000 ex-soldiers around the country have not been paid their forfeited leave days and the files are gathering dust at Sir Seretse Khama Barracks. Some of the officers say their days accumulated to six (6) months. 

There is also an issue of adjusting the retirement package for those who leave the force. Initially they were getting 30 percent of their salaries an anomaly that the BDF rectified to align with all public servants where one leaves the service and gets 75 percent of their monthly salary. 

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