Military vet refuses to lay down arms in ranking battle

A military veteran’s decades-long battle to reclaim the rank he once enjoyed, was dealt another blow last month when the Equality Court threw out his case.

But 74-year-old Bheki Simelane isn’t giving up just yet, and has launched an application for leave to appeal the court’s decision, accusing the presiding magistrate of bias.

During apartheid, Bheki Simelane – father to the former National Prosecuting Authority head Menzi Simelane – served as a lieutenant-general in both the Azanian People’s Liberation Army and Umkhonto weSizwe. But after he was absorbed into the then newly formed South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in 1994, he was given the rank of colonel. And he says this was, in effect, an unfair demotion.

In 2001, he approached the Labour Court with an application for an order reinstating him as a lieutenant-general and increasing his salary accordingly.

He was unsuccessful, with the court pointing to evidence that “he could not be appointed to such a rank as no such rank existed within the military structures of the new army”. Simelane tried appealing the court’s findings, first at the Labour Appeal Court and then in the Constitutional Court, but after both attempts came to nought, he changed tack.

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In 2019, Simelane turned to the Equality Court with a fresh application. In addition to disputing his rank and salary, this time around Simelane also took the stance that the state was violating his rights as a veteran by not paying for his legal representation.

But Magistrate M Khoele, who presided over the case, last month found the core issue had already been dealt with by the Labour Court, the Labour Appeal Court and the Constitutional Court – and that Simelane was not entitled to another bite at the cherry.

“In his petition to this court, [Simelane] implores this court to pronounce an outcome that is inconsistent with the findings in the previous decisions,” Khoele said in dismissing the application.

Simelane has, however, since responded with an application for leave to appeal.

In his papers, Simelane accused Khoele of having “deliberately misdirected himself and acted mala fide” and of having “bastardised” his arguments, rendering the judgment invalid in its entirety. He even went as far as accusing Khoele of being “a corrupt idiot” and suggesting he was bribed but provided no evidence to back up the claim.

The application has yet to be set down for a hearing.

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