President Cyril Ramaphosa deployed at least 2 900 soldiers in February last year to support combating illicit armed factions in eastern DR Congo.
Chairperson of Joint Standing Committee on Defence and Military Veterans, Melusi Gigaba, says parliament has not yet seen the final withdrawal plan to bring South African National Defense Force (SANDF) soldiers home from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Last month, the South African government announced that it would withdraw its troops from eastern DRC following a meeting of the heads of state of the Southern African Development Community (SADC).
Briefing the media in parliament on Thursday, Gigaba said the portfolio committee is monitoring the deployment in the DRC.
The committee is tasked with investigating and making recommendations on matters relating to the budget, functioning, organisation, armaments, policy, morale, and the state of preparedness of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF).
“As soon as a withdrawal plan has been finalised.The committee will get an update on process to be followed to withdraw SANDF soldiers from the SADC mission in the DRC,” he said.
Why is a plan necessary?
Gigaba said it is critical that weapons are returned with the soldiers.
“Of critical importance for the committee is how members of the SANDF and our prime mission equipment will be secured and returned to the country. Especially in light of the volatile and unpredictable nature of the area in Goma,” he said,
There were concerns about the impact of the withdrawal of the SANDF from the DRC.
However, Gigaba said the committee was still awaiting a report on the impact of the withdrawal.
Negotiations to end the war are ongoing
He said the committee was still hopeful that the war in the DRC could end through peaceful talks among those involved in the conflict.
“We therefore welcome the restart of negotiations between opposing sides in the conflict in the DRC and we call for extensive support to ensure that a lasting solution is found,” he said.
This is why the DRC deployment was necessary
Gigaba said the SANDF plays a supporting role in South Africa’s foreign policyand peacekeeping efforts on the continent.
The government has been criticised for allegedly sending SA troops to die in a war that South Africa could have avoided.
“The SANDF plays a supporting role to the international relations policy and diplomatic efforts of the country.
“We believe that in cases of conflict the SANDF should be treated in that regard, as playing a supporting role in the diplomatic and international relations efforts so that they are not the ones who are expected to start and end the peacekeeping efforts,” he said.
Gigaba said that since 1994, the SANDF had experienced several problems, including underfunding.
However, he said the apartheid government had also turned South Africa’s military into a “monstrous” army of repression.
Has the SANDF been weakened?
“As 1994 happened, we wanted a defence force that would not be viewed as an enemy of the people.
“In part, we reduced its funding and capabilities to create a defence force not involved in repression. At the same time, we neglected the growing international responsibilities of the democratic South Africa,” he said.
According to Gigaba, it’s become clear that the SANDF is being underfunded as the country participated in more peacekeeping missions over the years.
“We created an impression that funding the defence force is not part of funding the needs of society. At the same time, we have seen the expanding role of the SANDF in domestic missions such as the recent deployment of our soldiers in Stilfontein fighting the Zama Zamas,” he said.
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