No allowance for BDF’s Ceremonial Guard Unit

Botswana Defence Force (BDF) soldiers from the Ceremonial Guard Unit (CGU) will not be getting any allowance as it has been established that they do not perform any special duties similar to those of the Commandos. The 14 soldiers lost their claim for allowance on Friday following an appeal lodged with the Court of Appeal by their boss, Lieutenant General Placid Segokgo and the Attorney General.

The appeal came after the soldiers were awarded the Special Forces allowance by the High Court, but Segokgo disagreed saying they did not hold the counter-terrorism training that was a prerequisite for the allowance. In his judgement, Judge President Tebogo Tau told the soldiers that they did not qualify for the allowance as they had admitted to not performing any special duties. Justice Tau also told them that the Cab Memo that was used to determine who qualified for allowance was clear.

“The Cab Memo stipulated the duties which should be performed by those that qualify for the Special Forces allowance,” she said. Justice Tau explained that the Cab Memo laid the foundation for the introduction of the allowance in the issue and that the argument by the force commissioner that the respondents needed to be trained in counter-terrorism as required by the Cab Memo was sensible.

She said as the soldiers admitted that they were not trained in counter-terrorism, they did not meet the criteria and were not eligible to receive the allowance.

“The respondents’ argument is that their training is equal to that of Commandos. They did not, however, produce anything which proves that their Special Forces training was to the same standard as that of the Commando Squadron. They also admitted that they have not been trained in counter-terrorism,” said Tau.

She emphasised that the State argued that although the unit was trained by Special Forces, it was not to the standard of Commando Squadron as the memo also stated that their training would be to the Special Forces standard in tactics which were close to that of the Commandos.

Justice Tau said the respondents’ claim was based on that there was nothing on a Directive issued by the President about who was entitled to the allowance did not hold much water as there was no doubt that the Cab Memo they relied upon was the basis for the Presidential directive that introduced the allowance claimed.

The facts of the matter are that the 14 soldiers had taken their boss to court after alleging that they were excluded from the allowance despite being members of the Special Forces and having been performing such duties.

Their claim for the Special Forces allowance was based on circular no.1 of 2020, which was issued by the Permanent Secretary to the President. In terms of the circular, the entitlement to the allowance was according to the Presidential Directive based on a 2015 Cab Memo. The Cab Memo made it clear that the Special Forces allowance was payable to those that have obtained Botswana Special Forces Qualification Training for Officers and Counter-Terrorism Qualification and also based on persons maintaining Special Forces Standards or performance-based.

However, the commander on one hand denied that his juniors were entitled to the allowance as they did not possess counter-terrorism qualifications, which was a requirement for one to be considered for allowance enjoyed by other Special Forces members.

The State disputed that the employees were entitled to the allowance and believed the lower court erred by ordering that they were to be given the allowance.

He said amongst other grounds the court was wrong to rule that the CGU was trained to the Special Forces Standard, and were classified as members of Special Forces, therefore, entitling them to all benefits that come with it without considering their deployment.

The case was heard by Justices Tau, Mercy Garekwe and acting judge Lot Moroka.