Times Of Swaziland: ARMY RECRUITS OUTRAGE AT E350 000 FOR CALENDARS

ARMY RECRUITS OUTRAGE AT E350 000 FOR CALENDARS
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 BY SIBUSISO ZWANE on 09/02/2018 07:32:00


MANZINI – Army recruits and their parents are up in arms over a move by the
military infantry school supervisors, to ‘milk’ them over E350 000 just for
desk calendars.
This comes after the over 1 000 army recruits, who are currently at the army
infantry school at Mbuluzi Army Barracks, were told that during the course of
the month, each one of them was suppose to pay a sum of E350 for a desk
calendar, something which companies normally give out to customers as freebies.
Some concerned parents of the affected army recruits said they learnt with shock
about the move on Tuesday afternoon, after their children raised concerns over
the matter. They said according to the supervisors, the desk calendar would have
their platoon pictures and each one of them was expected to pay E350, which
meant that over E350 000 would be collected by the army.
“Our children told us that they were informed the purchase of the desk
calendars was not optional, as all of them were supposed to own one, regardless
of whether they wanted it or not or if they needed it in their line of duty,”
said one angry parent.
The parents said the information they got from their children was that
supervisors at the infantry school delivered the shocking order to the recruits
early this week. They said when they received the appalling news, the platoon
photos had already been taken in preparation to design the desk calendars and
get them ready for printing.
“After being told about the order, the recruits tried to raise their concerns
to the supervisors but all their attempts were in vain, as they were told that a
decision had already been made. In fact, they said they were told that it was an
order, not a suggestion up for debate,” the enraged parents said.
They said their children’s main concern was that they did not need the desk
calendars because they would not be based in any offices immediately after their
training and even if they were, they would not buy it at such an exorbitant
price.