The remains of 14 South African National Defence Force soldiers who were killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will be repatriated on Wednesday.
This was revealed by SANDF Chief General Rudzani Maphwanya who was answering the questions from members of Parliament’s Portfolio Committee in Cape Town on Tuesday.
Maphwanya and General Officer Commanding, Major General Godfrey Thulare, accompanied Defence Minister Angie Motshekga on Tuesday to give an update on the security situation in DRC to the committee.
However, Maphwanya did not however reveal more details regarding the repatriation, and only replied with “tomorrow,” when asked by one of the MPs.
The 14 soldiers were killed during a confrontation with the M23 rebels following three days of heavy fighting near the eastern city of Goma last week.
According to Maphwanya, the soldier’s deployment in the DRC is conducted under a Southern African Development Community mandate.
The SANDF has been criticized for deploying the soldiers to DRC without enough resources and equipment to protect themselves.
Maphwanya attributed the challenges faced by the sector to budget cuts.
“There is a need for us to build the defence force so that going into the future we don’t face the challenges that we faced previously and today.
You have made it a point that the announcement that the defence force budget must at least be 1.5% of the GDP,” explained Maphwanya.
Despite the challenges encountered, Maphwanya, is confident that the soldiers delivered on their SADC mission.