Pregnant female soldiers takes SANDF to Equality Court

01 Feb 2016 | Admin Author

A pregnant SANDF soldier who claims she he had been humiliated by her commanding officer for being pregnant, has filed papers in the Oudtshoorn Equality Court.

Twenty-nine-year-old Chanri Jooste filed the statutory notice on Thursday which gives the SA National Defence Force 30 days to respond.

Jooste is seeking compensation of between R50 000 and R70 000.

She claims she was ridiculed by a commanding officer at the Oudsthoorn Infantry for being pregnant.

Jooste is reportedly the first to take her case to the Equality Court, even though seven others female soldiers were allegedly humiliated by the hands of the senior officer because they were pregnant.

Jooste, with the assistance with her lawyer, Oudtshoorn attorney Clyde Avontuur, were due to file court papers in the court on Wednesday but technical delays prevented this.

"There were one or two hiccups with the papers which I have now decided to draft myself. We also decided to file the statutory notice because the client is looking for financial compensation, and in these cases you usually file such a notice. It is a wide decision because it gives the army the opportunity to settle the matter out of court."