14 SA soldiers who died in DRC were not killed in active combat, SANDF chief tells MPs

CAPE TOWN - The SA National Defence Force insists that 14 of its soldiers who recently died in the Democratic Republic of the Congo did not perish in active combat.

Government on Tuesday moved to assure Parliament that its mission there was not to support the DRC's protracted war with Rwanda, rather their duties were in line with a multi-country peacekeeping mission.

With the exception of the African National Congress (ANC), MPs across the political divide said they did not support the deployment and have called for soldiers to be withdrawn.

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The bodies of fallen soldiers are expected to return to South Africa on Wednesday.

But SANDF chief, Rudzwani Maphwanya, provided scant detail on the repatriation effort despite being pressed by MPs for exact arrival information.

He said it was untrue that the soldiers were not adequately prepared for their mission.

"They went through combativeness training. They went through mission readiness training, and it was not for lack of training that we suffered casualties."

Maphwanya said those who died were also not killed in the direct line of fire nor were they the target of Rwandan forces.

"Rwanda responded to their fire. The fire was coming over our base. So you are between the forces that are firing and those that are being fired at, that’s what I meant when I said we found ourselves between the fire of the FARDC - which is the DRC forces - and the Rwandan forces, which is RDF."

But MPs did not buy his explanation that a white flag raised at a South African base was not a sign of surrender, rather an appeal, Maphwanya said, for warring parties to cease fire.