The promotion of hundreds of former MK and Azanian People's Liberation Army (Apla) soldiers to senior ranks within the police‚ allegedly because of the military experience they gained fighting apartheid forces‚ is being questioned.

Documents in the possession of the trade union Solidarity show that many of the more than 600 officers said to be fighting the apartheid state at the time were in fact either still in nappies or playing on primary school fields.

Solidarity revealed at a press conference in Pretoria on Wednesday how many of the former non-statutory forces (NSF) members‚ whose promotions began this month‚ were in fact children when they claimed to be fighting apartheid forces.

The union placed the SAPS on legal terms this week‚ demanding that the promotions be halted.

Documents in the union's possession include information on the ages of those who have been promoted. They reveal how some of those being promoted were born in the 1980s.

The police‚ who were emailed questions about being placed on terms and about details of the promotions‚ declined to comment.

Solidarity said they had discovered that the NSF project had been used to promote police members to officer positions when they did not qualify as NSF members.