Parly committee's closed-door meeting on SANDF deployment to DRC postponed
Last week, MPs serving on the joint standing committee on defence were left frustrated by the scant information they were being provided with when they probed the circumstances of the soldiers’ deaths, prompting them to call for a secret meeting.
Defence Minister Angie Motshekga and her deputy, Bantu Holomisa, on 4 February 2025 briefed Parliament's defence committees on the security situation in the DRC. Picture: Lindsay Dentlinger/EWN
CAPE TOWN - A closed-door meeting of Parliament at which more details were expected to be shared on Friday about the operational deployment of SANDF soldiers in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has been postponed.
The bodies of the fallen soldiers finally arrived back in the country on Thursday and were returned to their families at a memorial service at the Swartkop Air Force Base on Thursday night.
Last week, MPs serving on the joint standing committee on defence were left frustrated by the scant information they were being provided with when they probed the circumstances of the soldiers’ deaths, prompting them to call for a secret meeting.
At least two political parties have called for a judicial inquiry into the deaths of the SANDF soldiers who died three weeks ago.
At last week’s committee meeting, SANDF chief, Rudzani Maphwanya, insisted the soldiers were killed in the crossfire and not in active combat.
But MPs wanted to know whether there was intelligence to warn the SANDF that their forces were in harm’s way and whether they had adequate resources for their mission.
Owing to the sensitivity of the information, those details were expected to be shared at a secret meeting on Friday away from the parliamentary precinct, at the Ysterplaat Air Force Base.
But owing to Thursday night’s memorial, Maphwanya and Defence Minister Angie Motshekga would not be able to attend.
Replying to the debate on his State of the Nation Address on Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the decision to deploy SANDF troops to the DRC since December 2023 had not been taken lightly.
"South Africa's role in peacekeeping missions is indeed fundamental to the pursuit of peace, stability and development in our country, in the region and on the continent."
The closed-door meeting has now been postponed to 28 February, increasing the wait for families and the public on the circumstances of their deployment in the war-ravaged region.