Following deaths of 13 SANDF soldiers in DRC, SCOPA eagerly awaiting defence minister's Feb appearance

CAPE TOWN - In the wake of the deaths of 13 SANDF soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo since Friday, Parliament's Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA) is eagerly awaiting the minister’s appearance before them in February. 

The committee on Tuesday received a briefing from the Special Investigating Unit (SIU) on investigations into the department and arms manufacturer, Denel.

They said that given the corruption that had taken place within the two bodies, it appeared the soldiers didn’t have the adequate protection for their mission.

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With the SIU on a mission to get back intellectual property on missile designs shared by former Denel officials with a Dubai-based company, parliamentarians say it’s unsurprising then that South African soldiers are left vulnerable in the DRC.

The MK Party’s Thalente Kubheka said the deaths of these soldiers was exposing the weakness of South Africa’s military and posing a security risk to the country. 

"You are sending them there with little arms, hardly any ammunition, they are running out of food. They are running out of simple things an ordinary military should have."

The Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF)'s Mazwi Blose agreed.

"The minister must give us a report on this suicidal mission that they’ve embarked on because as of now, 13 have been killed, but there’s many more that have been injured."

The Democratic Alliance (DA)'s Mark Burke said soldiers were without the equipment they needed because of corruption at Denel.