The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has announced that the memorial service and the handover ceremony of the 14 fallen soldiers who died in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, have been postponed to 18H00 on Thursday.
The ceremony was initially scheduled to take place at 09:00 at the Air Force Base Swartkop in Centurion, but had to be delayed to accommodate President Cyril Ramaphosa’s reply to the State of the Nation Address debate at 2pm in parliament.
Ramaphosa, the Minister of Defence, Angie Motshekga, and other dignitaries are expected to join the bereaved families at the base for the ceremonies.
The soldiers died during an ambush attack by the M23 rebels in Goma, eastern DRC, two weeks ago.
Their remains arrived at the 1 Military Hospital in Pretoria last night from Uganda, following delays in their repatriation from the DRC.
Addressing parliament on Monday, Motshekga said the repatriation process was also delayed due to the medical process in Uganda.
The soldiers were deployed to the DRC as part of the SADC Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (SAMIDRC), and part of the UN mission, MONUSCO.