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MPs grill defence ministry over SANDF deployment in the DRC

todayFebruary 4, 2025 55

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High-ranking officials from the Defence Ministry faced the third degree in Parliament over the deployment of SANDF troops to the DRC.

Members of the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans wanted to know what the South African soldiers were doing in the civil war-weary country during a sitting aimed at discussing plans to repatriate the bodies of the 14 soldiers who lost their lives in the battle with the Rwandan-backed M23 rebels.

EFF MP, Carl Niehaus, came guns-blazing, accusing the defence ministry and President Cyril Ramaphosa of lying to South Africans about the operation that the country has in the DRC.

He says the troops are deployed in the Central African country to guard Ramaphosa’s mineral interests.

“Why are you minister, and why is the president lying to us about the nature of the operation that we have in the DRC? It is not a peace keeping mission; it is an offensive mission, and it is defined as such by the SADC. Therefore, you knew that our soldiers were going to be shot at, and you knew that you are sending our young men into the DRC to die in the killing fields of the DRC,” claimed Niehaus.

He also came for the SANDF Chief, General Rudzhani Maphwanya, accusing him of having previously snubbed Parliament’s invite to the committee seating.

Niehause says MPs were intending on discussing a solution for the SANDF, which they say has been collapsing.

“It’s taken a year for the Chief of the south African National Defence Force, General Maphwanya, to come to our committee. We have asked many times, but he never dignified us with his presence. It had to take 14 of our SANDF soldiers to die for him to come here,” remarked Niehaus.

The anti-apartheid activist says MPs warned Minister Angie Motshekga against the SANDF’s operation in the DRC prior to their deployment.

“We told the minister of Defence and military veterans that the SANDF is collapsing; we cannot carry out an offensive mission in the DRC,” he chimed.

Niehaus accused the Ministry of not having sufficient resources and ammunition in preparation for the War, which continues to rage on, in the Central African country.

“You did not have the ammunition; you did not have the supplies; You do not have the money have sent them, but you sent them to die for the mineral wealth that is being looked after, the mines that are being looked after that belongs to Cyril Ramaphosa, his family and his friends.”

Minister Motshekga took the opportunity to assure MPs that the country’s troops are a force to be reckoned with.

“South Africa comes third in the Continent after Egypt and Algeria, so we have no doubts. We can’t be a perfect defence force; I don’t think there is any perfect structure, but we are saying in terms of what we need to do, I can assure members and the public that indeed we are a force to reckon with,” the defence minister told Parliamentarians. Written by Odirile Rabolao 

Written by: Lindiwe Mabena

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