JOHANNESBURG – The South African military has imposed restrictions on officers after it was revealed that dozens are using extended leave to moonlight as security guards in Iraq, where they can earn more than a year’s salary in a month.

The South African National Defense Force believes that mainly white serving officers are accumulating leave in order to make a lucrative tour of unofficial duty in Iraq’s flourishing security industry.

“Many South Africans return from Baghdad with stories of earning up to $1,000 a day,” said a military source. “The work is dangerous, but for these guys, who have a lot of combat experience, the rewards are high.”

The scandal emerged during a military court hearing in Pretoria when a senior Sandf officer, Lieutenant

Colonel Gus Maartens, was fined $340 for “breaches of military discipline” including being absent without leave.

The South African army changed its leave policy recently, suspecting that some men were freelancing as mercenaries.

It became compulsory for all soldiers to declare when they intended to travel abroad, even for a genuine holiday.

Lietenant Colonel Louis Kirstein, a Sandf spokesman, said the army was investigating reports that many of its serving men were working off-duty in quasi-military organizations abroad.

The number of South Africans working in the private military sector in Iraq is estimated at between 5,000 and 10,000 men.

According to a U.N. report, South Africa is, with the America and Britain, among the top three suppliers of personnel for the private military and security organizations operating in Iraq.