SIXTY percent of SAPS force booked off 885,028 days "non-injury sick leave" in 2009

2010-10-06 CAPE TOWN - Lizel Steenkamp of Beeld newspaper reports that the taxpayers had to fork over more than R550-million in non-injury-related sick-leave for 112,690 of the country's 190,199 SAPS employees. This is an indication that the working-age South Africans suffer extensively from AIDS and/or TB, the two epidemics which are ravaging South Africa. According to the SAPS annual report for 2009, sixty percent of its entire work-force had booked off on a total 885,028 days for "ordinary' sick-leave related to diseases and ailments between January 1 and 31 December last year - 72,572 days without any letter from a doctor. Estimated cost in lost man-hours: R387-million.