The SA National Defence Force (SANDF) has dismissed claims that two of its soldiers deployed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) as part of the SADC mission have surrendered to the M23 rebels.
The SANDF members are in the DRC as part of the Southern African Development Community mission.
Siphiwe Dlamini, the spokesperson for the SANDF, said on Wednesday that the defence force “rejects with contempt any suggestion or inference that two soldiers deployed as part of the SADC mission in the DRC have surrendered to the M23 rebels”.
All SANDF members accounted for
“We want to state categorically that all SANDF members deployed in the DRC have been accounted for,” Dlamini said.
“The convoluted article published by the faceless Washington correspondent is dismissed with the contempt it deserves.
“This is not the first time such unfounded and baseless news articles have been written about the SANDF since its deployment in the DRC under SAMIDRC.
“The SANDF views such attempts to discredit the defence force in the most serious light by faceless people and will not stand by and allow its good name to be tarnished.
“The SANDF, as the authority for the deployed members, shall at all times inform the South African public about the situation and safety of its members in the DRC.”
Allegations contained in news article
The allegations can be found in a news article authored by an unidentified Washington, DC correspondent that was published by National Security News on Tuesday.
The article is titled “South African soldiers surrender to M23 in the DRC and are taken as prisoners”.
Reads the article in part: “Several South African soldiers that were deployed by the ANC government into the DRC as part of an ill-equipped and ill-prepared force reportedly surrendered to the M23 rebels this past week.
“The soldiers are now reportedly being held as hostages by M23. The soldiers are part of a South African National Defence Force deployed to attack the M23 rebels, specifically in the east of the DRC.
“This follows the withdrawal of an East African Regional Security Force that was led by Kenya and avoided a confrontation with M23.
“With the capture of the South African soldiers by M23, questions arise as to why President Cyril Ramaphosa rushed to deploy a small, ill-prepared South African force without the required air cover against M23 in dangerous terrain?
“Why would Ramaphosa attack Rwanda’s security interests on its border with the DRC by aligning the SANDF as a potential unwitting ally of the genocidal FDLR [Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda]?”
Inquiry into deaths of SANDF members
In February, the SANDF repatriated and officially handed over the mortal remains of Captain Simon Mkhulu Bobe and Lance Corporal Irven Thabang Semono to their families.
Bobe and Semono were killed in the DRC after a mortar bomb landed inside one of the South African contingency military bases.
Three other members of the SANDF were injured in the attack.
The soldiers were part of the SADC mission in the DRC and were deployed to support and assist the government of the second-largest country in Africa in restoring peace, security, and stability.
In March, an inquiry was launched into the incident that led to the deaths of two SANDF members in the DRC.
The SANDF said it had convened a board of inquiry with the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo to investigate the incident that led to the deaths.
“The incident occurred when one of them [an SANDF member] shot and killed the other with their service weapon before turning the weapon on themselves with fatal consequences,” the SANDF said at the time.
