There has always been healthy competition between the various divisions of the SADF; sometimes envy, sometimes friendly rivalry, and sometimes downright jealousy. It often bordered on the issue of Haves and Have-nots, eg. they give their troops too much leave. Individually each believed it was better than the others. What resulted was competition which was sometimes good and sometimes bad. This often also resulted in division, especially when one was from a different Corps and seconded to another unit. An example of this might be when an individual was called a "sleg Seiner", or a "Tampax Tiffie". While most members would ignore such comments or insults, there was often the desire to get even.
One day in June 1987 the medical staff of the 7 SAI Sickbay played a prank on the RSM of 7 SAI. What occurred went as follows :
It was routine practice for the Sister of the sickbay and another member of her team to visit the outer bases on a weekly basis. One of these bases was located inside the Kruger National Park. 7 SAI is to be found at Phalaborwa and is right next to the fence of the Kruger. On one of her trips while she was driving down the road inside the Kruger she saw this huge elephant dung deposit on the tar road in front of the car. She looked at her colleague and one of them got out of the car and fetched it. It would be perfect for putting down on the tar road inside the base at 7 SAI.
For those who don't know 7 SAI of the 1980's - it was a very paraat (prim) Infantry base, and prided itself on its neatness and tidyness. This was a base where the tar roads were SWEPT every morning by the troops.
On arrival back at the base she walked into the sickbay and told the staff present what she had found. She then proceeded to place the dung deposit onto the tar road outside the sickbay. It was at precisely the point of the T-junction shown in the photo above. This was a main traffic route within the base as it was on the route from the Main-gate down to the Troops Mess. The intention was that it would be seen and the Infantry rank would get upset with their troops about not cleaning the road properly.
At this point one of the doctors decided that the deposit would look more realistic if it was wet. So he proceeded to turn on the hosepipe, and then watered it quite liberally. Now that the fun was over they left the scene. Next to pass the route was some soul who, without looking, proceeded to drive over the deposit and it was subsequently spread all the way down the road - just like such a deposit might appear in a real bush location. The time was now late afternoon so all staff who worked the day shift proceeded to their homes.
Being such a paraat and clean place, it wasn't long before someone noted : "Hey, there's elephant dung inside the base ! ". Put two and two together and the next thing one hears doing the rounds is that an elephant has escaped from Kruger Park and somehow gotten into the base. After dinner the night duty staff in the sickbay hear that the RSM of 7 SAI is looking for the elephant. There were howls of laughter in the sickbay at the thought that the medics could actually have the RSM of such an elite unit driving around looking for something that doesn't exist. As with all rumours, a tail grows and as the evening went by his own troops were unknowingly fueling the situation by commenting on where the elephant had been seen most recently. He was apparently driving from one end of the base to the next in a fruitless search. One has to note that the base is HUGE, so it can be time-consuming to search the entire place. At this time he was not aware of the innocent source of his mad search. A telephone call from the sickbay to the sister highlighted the situation but after a good laugh it was left at that. As the evening got later and later most of the troops headed off to bed, and yet the RSM was still seen driving up and down between the double fence which separated the game reserve from the camp. Time was heading for the dead of night and he was still looking for the place where the elephant had gotten into the base. He did find many openings in the fence but we heard that these were probably the places where the troops used to cut the fence and go out on AWOL. Heading past the bewitching hour he got the rumour that the elephant was now in the Orchard. This was their pride and joy (after the units mascot) and so another mad rush occurred over to the orchard, only to find that there was no action in the orchard. At this point the staff in the sickbay were cautiously checking with the guard room what was happening in the base. The RSM had been on a wild goose chase for a number of hours now, and it was felt the situation could get out of hand if it carried on for much longer. Another phone call was made to the sister, and she was brought up to date on the latest events. She subsequently phoned the guard commander and told him to tell the RSM that there was no elephant in the base.
The next morning we heard that the RSM was not very happy and the Officer in charge of the sickbay was contacted for an explanation. Sister kept a low profile for the next few days and avoided the RSM at all costs. But he did eventually catch her one morning when she was going to Order Group and the two apparently had a good "chat".
And so that was how the Medics got one up on the Infantry at 7 SAI.