Defence Act, 2002 (Act No. 42 of 2002)Chapter 17 : Offences and Penalties104. Offences and penalties |
| 1) | Any employer who unfairly discriminates against any of his or her employees on the grounds that the employee wishes to be or is a voluntary member of the Reserve Force, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year. |
| 2) | Any person who marks, defaces or conceals any mark on any equipment, article or animal where such mark denotes the ownership of the Republic or of any visiting force, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years. |
| 3) | Any person who, without the necessary authority, disposes of any article or animal in the possession of the Department, or who through negligence loses any such article or animal, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 15 years. |
| 4) | Any person who obstructs, damages, removes, destroys or commits any other act on or against any property used for protecting or safeguarding the Republic, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 25 years. |
| 5) | Any person who, without authority, possesses or wears prescribed uniforms distinctive marks or crests, or performs any prohibited act while wearing such uniform or with such uniform, distinctive marks or crests, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years. |
| 6) | Any person who, without authority, uses or is responsible for the use of any name, title or any other symbol of the Department, where such use is calculated or likely to lead people to infer that it has been authorised under this Act, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years. |
| 7) | Subject to the Promotion of Access to Information Act, 2000 (Act 2 of 2000), any person who, without authority, discloses or publishes any information, or is responsible for such disclosure or publication, whether by print, the electronic media, verbally or by gesture, where such information has been classified in terms of this Act, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years. |
| 8) | Any person who, without authority, gains access to the computer systems or computer data bases of the Department, or who, without authority, changes, alters, corrupts, copies or withdraws data from any such systems or data bases, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 25 years. |
| 9) | Any person who falsely represents himself or herself to be a member or an employee of the Defence Force or Department, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years. |
| 10) | Any person who obstructs or interferes with the Defence Force in the execution of its duties in terms of this Act or the Constitution, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 25 years. |
| 11) | Any person who induces or attempts to induce any member of the Defence Force to neglect, or to act in conflict with, his or her duty to the Defence Force, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years. |
| 12) | Any person who is liable to render service in the Defence Force by virtue of a military service contract with the Defence Force, and refuses or, without a valid reason, fails to render such service, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year. |
| 13) | Any person who recruits or attempts to recruit any member of the Regular Force for membership of any trade union other than a military trade union which is duly authorised to act as such, or incites or attempts to incite a member of the Defence Force to participate in strikes, demonstrations or protests prohibited in terms of the regulations, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years. |
| 14) | Any member of the Defence Force or of any auxiliary service who participates in any strike or secondary strike action, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years. |
| 15) | Any member or employee of the Department who, in a wilful or negligent manner, contravenes or fails to comply with any regulation made under this Act, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year. |
| 16) | Any person who, without authority, discloses the identity of a covert source of the Department, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 25 years. |
| 17) | Any person who undermines or stifles, or seeks to undermine or stifle, any procedure for the redress of grievances, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding five years. |
| 18) | Any member of the Defence Force who neglects to inform a prescribed officer of his or her change of address and such other particulars as may be prescribed, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding six months. |
| 19) |
| a) | A person is guilty of an offence if he or she, without proper authority— |
| i) | enters, overflies or otherwise collects or gains access to classified information from specific classified facilities, installations or instruments of the Department; |
| ii) | is in possession of, makes copies of, sketches, photographs, makes print-outs of, electronically or in any other manner records or obtains digital data from classified facilities, installations or instruments of the Department; or |
| iii) | hands over or discloses to any person or loses or obtains from any member or employee of the Department, copies, sketches, photographs, print-outs, electronic or non-electronic recordings of the digital data referred to in subparagraph (ii). |
| b) | Any person convicted of an offence contemplated in paragraph (a) is liable to a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding 25 years. |
| 20) |
| a) | A person is guilty of an offence if he or she in respect of public property or State money under the control of the Department— |
| i) | sells, barters or otherwise disposes of or lends or pledges any such property without authority; |
| ii) | agrees to pay or connives at the payment of any exorbitant price for any such property purchased for use, or any service hired, by the Department; |
| iii) | without good cause abandons, damages or destroys any such property; |
| iv) | being responsible for stores, stocks or money in the Department, so negligently perform his or her duties as to cause a deficiency in such stores, stocks or money; |
| v) | without authority takes or removes any article from its designated place; |
| vi) | uses any article or money for any purpose other than in the public interest; |
| vii) | through gross negligence or intentionally omits to take action to prevent damage or destruction or loss of any such property or money; |
| viii) | intentionally or through gross negligence commits any act which causes or is likely to cause damage to or destruction or loss of any such property or money; |
| ix) | intentionally or through gross negligence fails to take effective steps to prevent unauthorised, irregular, fruitless or wasteful expenditure as contemplated in the Public Finance Management Act, 1999 (Act 1 of 1999); or |
| x) | intentionally or through gross negligence and without good cause under-collects revenue due to the Department. |
| b) | Any person convicted of an offence contemplated in paragraph (a) is liable on conviction to a fine or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding 10 years. |
| 21) |
| a) | A person is guilty of an offence if he or she— |
| i) | having been duly summoned or warned to attend as a witness before a board of inquiry, fails to attend or to remain in attendance until authorised to leave; |
| ii) | being present at a board of inquiry after having been duly summoned or warned to attend as a witness, fails or refuses to be sworn or to affirm; |
| iii) | uses threatening or insulting language at a board of inquiry or wilfully causes a disturbance or interruption thereat or wilfully commits any other act likely to bring the board of inquiry into contempt, ridicule or disrepute; or |
| iv) | having been duly notified of his or her call-up for service by way of a call-up order issued in terms of section 53(3A), fails to present himself or herself at the time and place specified in the call-up order. |
| b) | Any person convicted of an offence contemplated in paragraph (a) is liable to a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding three months. |
| 22) | Any person who at any board of inquiry deliberately misleads the board, is guilty of an offence and liable on conviction to a fine or imprisonment for a period not exceeding one year. |