Defence Act, 1957 (Act No. 44 of 1957)

Chapter VIII : Registration and Selection of Persons for Allotment to Citizen Force, Commandos, South African Police or South African Railways Police Force

72E. Service by classified conscientious objectors
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(1)A person classified as a conscientious objector in terms of section 72D(1)(a)(i) shall render service or undergo training under the provisions of this Act in a noncombatant capacity in the South African Defence Force.

 

(2)

(a)A person classified in terms of section 72D(1)(a)(ii) as a conscientious objector shall render such service or undergo such training as he is under the provisions of this Act called up to render or to undergo and while he is clothed in the prescribed clothing, other than a military uniform.
(b)Service referred to in paragraph (a) shall be rendered by performing prescribed maintenance tasks of a non-combatant nature in the South African Defence Force, and training referred to in the said paragraph shall be training to perform such maintenance tasks.

 

(3)A person classified as a conscientious objector in terms of section 72D(1)(a)(iii) shall, instead of—
(a)rendering service in terms of section 22, perform service in a department or with an institution, council, board or body contemplated in subsection (4) (in this Act referred to as 'community service as contemplated in this Act'), which shall be completed in a single continuous period of service, determined in accordance with the formula—

 

LXMXR

 

in which—

(i)'L' represents a loading of 1,5;
(ii)'M' represents a period of time (expressed in days) which is the aggregate of the maximum of all the periods of service mentioned in section 22(3) during which any person referred to in section 21 may still, as from when the conscientious objector in question (whose single continuous period of community service as contemplated in this Act is being calculated) was classified as  such, be called up from time to time in terms of section 22 to render service (notwithstanding any determination or call-up referred to in section 22(1)); and
(iii)'R' represents the relation of—

 

D1

D2

 

in which—

(aa)'D1' represents the actual period of time (expressed as the number of the months of which it  consists), at the time contemplated in subparagraph (ii), determined in general in terms of section 22(1) for persons referred to in section 21 in respect of the first period of service referred to in section 22(3)(a); and
(bb)'D2' represents the number of the maximum number of months of the first period of service as mentioned in section 22(3)(a); or

[Paragraph (a) amended by section 3(a) of Act No. 32 of 1993]

(b)rendering service in terms of any other provision of this Act, perform community service as contemplated in this Act for a period which is one-and-a-half times as long as the particular period of service during which he would otherwise, as a result of his call-up to render service in terms of that other provision, have had to render service or 36 days, whichever is the longer:

Provided that the Minister may, after consultation with the Minister of Manpower, on account of any consideration, including the duration of actual military service which any person or category, class or group of persons in terms of this Act has been or is being or could possibly be called up to render, determine that—

(i)        such community service;

(ii)community service as contemplated in this Act which has to be rendered by a person in compliance with the conditions of parole laid down for his release from the detention barracks where he had to serve a sentence of detention imposed on him in terms of section 72I(2)(a); or
(iii)community service as contemplated in this Act which has to be rendered by a person in compliance with a condition on which the operation of a sentence imposed under section 72I(2)(a) has been suspended under section 72I(5),

may be completed during a shorter period.

 

(4)Any person who is under or because of any provision of this Act liable or obliged to perform community service as contemplated in this Act, shall perform it as ordered by the Minister of Manpower or an officer authorized thereto by him—

(a)        in a department as defined in section 1 of the Public Service Act, 1984 (Act No. 111 of 1984);

(b)with an institution, council or body contemplated in section 84(1)(f) of the Provincial Government Act, 1961 (Act No. 32 of 1961);
(c)with a council as defined in section 1 of the Regional Services Councils Act, 1985 (Act No.109 of 1985);
(d)with a board as defined in section 1 of the Kwazulu and Natal Joint Services Act, 1990 (Act No. 84 of 1990),

and at a place specified by that Minister or officer in that order: Provided—

(i)that the Minister of Manpower or an officer authorized thereto by him may, if he deems fit, at any time while community service as contemplated in this Act is being performed as ordered in terms of this subsection, order that such community service shall be performed in another such department or with another such institution, council, board or body; and

[Paragraph (i) substituted by section 3(b) of Act No. 32 of 1993]

(ii)that if such community service has been performed by a person in more than one department or with more than one institution, council, board or body, the period of service performed in every such department or with every such institution, council, board or body shall be taken into account for the purpose of determining the duration of the community service as contemplated in this Act performed by such person.

[Paragraph (ii) substituted by section 3(b) of Act No. 32 of 1993]

 

(4A)

(a)Any person who, for whatever reason, has to perform community service as contemplated in this Act, shall, by the order referred to in subsection (4), also be ordered to report at a specified time for and commence with such community service if it is—
(i)determined in accordance with the provisions of subsection (3)(a), on a specified date within 32 days; or
(ii)determined in accordance with the provisions of subsection (3)(b), on a specified date within 42 days,

from the day upon which the liability to perform such community service arose.

(b)For the purposes of paragraph (a) the liability in the case of a conscientious objector classified in terms of section 72D(1)(a)(iii) who is liable to that community service to comply with any conditions of parole which have been imposed, shall be deemed to have arisen on the day on which he accepted the conditions of parole, and in the case of such a classified conscientious objector who is liable to that community service to comply with a condition subject to which the execution of a sentence imposed under section 72I(2)(a), was suspended under section 72I(5), shall be deemed to have arisen on the day on which such sentence was imposed.
(c)Such community service shall, for the purpose of calculating the period during which it is to be performed, be deemed to have commenced on the date on which it commences according to that order or on the actual date of commencement thereof, whichever occurs first, or, if the Minister or officer referred to in subsection (4) fails to order that such community service shall commence as contemplated in paragraph (a) of this subsection and it first commences after that thirty-second or forty-second day, as the case may be, it shall be deemed to have commenced on that thirty-second or forty-second day, as the case may be: Provided that such person shall not be exempted from his liability to comply with such order if that specified date does not fall within the said 32 or 42 days, as the case may be.

 

(4B)If any person who is under or on account of any provision of this Act liable or obliged to perform community service as contemplated in this Act and he, by reason of the fact that he has left his ordinary place of residence and it is unknown where he happens to be or that he has left the Republic and remains absent therefrom, does not perform or further perform such community service, or by reason of any such circumstances cannot be ordered under subsection (4) to perform such community service, his classification as such a conscientious objector shall lapse after the expiration of a period of 90 days from the date on which he so left his ordinary place of residence or the Republic, as the case may be, and he shall under those circumstances be deemed to be still liable to render the military service which he had before his said classification (which has thus lapsed) been called up to render, and shall be deemed, by having thus left his ordinary place of residence or the Republic, as the case may be, and remaining absent therefrom, to refuse to render such military service.

 

(5)

(a)Any department, institution, council, board or body referred to in subsection (4) shall take any person who in terms of this section is obliged to perform community service as contemplated in this Act with it, into its employment as ordered in terms of that subsection or, if such person is already in its employment, with effect from the specified date contemplated in subsection (4A).
(b)If any person is obliged to perform community service as contemplated in this Act in any capacity with a department, institution, council, board or body, such service shall be performed in accordance with the regulations made under section 72G, and such regulations shall apply to the exclusion of any other law or any contractual obligation in respect of such community service and such person, in relation to his performance of such community service.

[Paragraph (b) substituted by section 3(c) of Act No. 32 of 1993]

(c)If any person who already is in the employment of a department, institution, council, board or body is obliged for any reason to perform community service as contemplated in this Act with such department, institution, council, board or body, such person shall perform his community service in accordance with the regulations made under section 72G, and the first year of such community service shall, in respect of such person, for the purposes of seniority, promotion, salary or compensation and increase in salary or compensation not be regarded as service with that department, institution, council, board or body.

 

[Section 72E substituted by section 18 of Act No. 132 of 1992]