It is impossible to have an HIV-free defence force, the Pretoria High Court heard on Thursday.

The SA Security Forces Union and three people with HIV were bringing an application to force the SA National Defence Force (SANDF) to change its policy that prevents people with HIV from joining the force or being deployed externally.

The court is being asked to declare the blanket exclusion unconstitutional, order the appointment and promotion of individuals adversely affected by the policy, and order the SANDF to devise a new policy within six months.

Advocate Gilbert Marcus argued on behalf of the applicants that people should be assessed on an individual basis.

"HIV should not be the benchmark — the benchmark should be how healthy you are," he said.

Marcus also told the court that 23 percent of SANDF members are already HIV positive.

"It is simply impossible to have an HIV-free SANDF," he said.

He said a blanket ban was unfair.

President Thabo Mbeki will also no longer oppose the application. The President was cited as the fourth respondent in a case brought by the AIDS Law Project, acting on behalf of the South African Security Forces Union (SASFU) and individual members of the SANDF wanting to force the defence force to change its HIV and Aids policy.

He and the SANDF Surgeon General, the Minister of Defence and the Chief of the SANDF were opposing the application, in their professional capacities, that asked the court to declare the blanket exclusion of people with HIV unconstitutional.

Sapa