Calls mount for ill-equipped SANDF members to return after fatal attack on SA base in DRC
|Published
A chorus of voices have called for the immediate return of members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) following the fatal attack on a SA military base in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
The defence force announced earlier on Thursday that two members were killed and three others left injured after a mortar bomb landed inside one of their bases in the DRC on Wednesday at around 1.30pm.
The defence force said the South African contingent was part of the SADC mission in the DRC deployed to support and assist the government in its efforts to bring peace, security, and stability in the region.
After the indirect fire on the base, the injured members were taken to the nearest hospital in Goma for medical attention.
EFF commander-in-chief Julius Malema, during a presser at the party’s headquarters earlier today, was among those who called for the immediate return of SANDF members. He claimed the army had collapsed and was not effectively trained or capacitated.
“We just don’t have the army; the ANC has collapsed the army. The army has collapsed; there is no army. They are sent there to be killed, because they are not properly trained. They must come back home.
“We must stop with any military deployment until we are fit and proper. Just take a walk and meet a South African soldier walking, you will see a demoralised man. Cyril Ramaphosa wants to kill our children in DRC,” Malema said.
He said the lack of training and utter disregard for the South African defence was evident given how they were even attacked at their bases.
The DA’s Kobus Marais also blamed the deaths of SANDF members on Ramaphosa, as he too stressed that the country’s defence force simply did not have the capacity to effectively pursue an anti-insurgency campaign against the M23 rebels. Nor did it have the prime mission equipment to support the ground forces.
“What Ramaphosa is doing is sending the SANDF members to their death and the only outcome from this reckless deployment will be more body bags coming back home. It is clear that the M23 rebels, using their familiarity of the territory, are resorting to tactical ambushes of the SANDF to inflict maximum harm on our troops.
“Even more troubling is that Ramaphosa is sending our troops to an active war zone unprepared and with limited military hardware to navigate the complex terrain,” Marais said.
The Star
goitsemang.matlhabe@inl.co.za