Conned By 'The General'

‘Recruits’ were lured by the promise of a better life in the military but were forced to live a nightmare instead.

- Kaizer Ngwenya

THEY had bright dreams for the future. They would serve their country, have a great adventure – and support their families along the way.

But the hopes of people like Nomthandazo Bhengu* were not to be realised. Instead of landing a great job with the South African National Defence Force (SANDF), they were caught in a web of abuse and deceit and no hope for the future.

Nomthandazo and others like her believed their problems would be a thing of the past when they signed up to be army recruits last year.

They’d heard about the jobs when a man they believed to be a SANDF recruiter came to KwaZulu-Natal, and signed them up for what they believed would be training from the country’s finest soldiers.

But instead, Nomthandazo says, she spent six months living in squalor in a nightmare of forced labour and torture, allegedly at the hands of their “recruiter”, a rogue former SANDF soldier known as The General.

Speaking to DRUM on condition of anonymity, Nomthandazo (26) said she’d been “through hell”.

She tells us the General told her he ran a recruitment agency known as Amabutho Royal Defence. “He told us the SANDF was recruiting people to join the army even if they didn’t have a matric certificate,” she says.

“Even people who had a Grade 8 were welcome to join. The General (whose real name is Petrus Ndaba) told us we would be trained for three months before being integrated into the SANDF.”

Nomthandazo hoped joining the army would be her chance to turn her life around.

Instead, she says she was forced to do push-ups naked and to massage The General, while sick recruits were beaten with sjamboks.

Those who were too weak to exercise were made to stand in the hot sun until they collapsed.

THE recruits, men and women between 18 and 35, came from KwaZulu-Natal, the Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga.