Chapter XII : Visiting and Other Forces > 130. Deserters from other forces

(1)

Subject to the provisions of this section, section one hundred and forty-one of the Military Discipline Code shall within the Republic apply in relation to a deserter or absentee without leave, from any military force of any country (including any member of a reserve or auxiliary force of that country, who, having failed to obey a notice calling upon him to appear at any place for service, is by the law of that country liable to the same punishment as a deserter, or to the same punishment as an absentee without leave), as it applies in relation to a deserter or absentee without leave from the South African Defence Force.

(2)

No person who is alleged to be a deserter from a force of any country shall be apprehended or dealt with under this section except in compliance with a request from the government of that country, and a person so dealt with shall be handed over to the authorities of that country at such a place within the Republic as may be agreed: Provided that a person who is alleged to be a deserter or absentee without leave from a visiting force may be apprehended and dealt with in compliance with a request from the officer in command of that force.

(3)	For the purposes of any proceedings under this section—

(a)	a document purporting to be a certificate under the hand of the Minister of Foreign Affairs or of the Minister, that a request has been made under subsection (2) of this section, shall be admissible without proof as evidence of the making of such a request;

[Paragraph (a) amended by section 63 of Act No. 85 of 1967]

(b)

a document purporting to be a certificate under the hand of the officer in command of a unit or detachment of a force of any country that a named and described person was at the date of the certificate a deserter or absentee without leave from that force, shall be admissible without proof as evidence of the facts so certified.