Malema says deployment of SANDF troops to DRC was immature and irrational

JOHANNESBURG - Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader Julius Malema said the deployment of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) members to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) was immature and irrational.

Malema was reacting to the death of two soldiers who were killed when a mortar bomb landed at the force's military base in the conflict-ridden country on Wednesday.

South African soldiers are deployed to the DRC to support the country as tensions between the government and the M23 rebels become tense.

Malema believes South Africa's soldiers are not adequately equipped to be deployed to the DRC amid escalating tensions between the state and the armed group.

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"Our army can't look after cabbages. I can't hire them on my farm to go and look after cabbages. We just don't have the army."

Malema has called on the SANDF to rethink its deployment of soldiers to the DRC.

"They are sent there to be killed because they are not properly trained. They must come back home."

Nearly 3,000 SANDF members were recently sent to the DRC to join Southern African Development Community missions in the eastern parts of the country.

At the same time, when he replied to his State of the Nation Address in Parliament, President Cyril Ramaphosa weighed in on the death of two soldiers.

He further hailed the work being done by troops deployed to the DRC saying they are bringing peace to the continent.

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