International relations & co-operation minister Ronald Lamola rejected calls by opposition party MPs in the National Assembly on Monday for the immediate withdrawal of SA troops from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where they have been fighting M23 rebels.
Lamola concluded the urgent debate on a matter of public importance called by DA defence spokesperson Chris Hattingh after the recent deaths of 14 soldiers in the DRC. Seven ministers and deputy ministers including defence minister Angie Motshekga participated in the debate.
SA has about 2,000 soldiers in the region supporting a Southern African Development Community (Sadc) mission.
Opposition MPs slammed the fact that SA soldiers had been sent into what was touted as a peacekeeping mission but was in fact a combat mission untrained, ill-equipped and without adequate support, military intelligence and proper planning.
Some MPs called for the immediate withdrawal of the troops.
Dangerous
However, Lamola said this would be dangerous as an abrupt withdrawal would send the troops into an ambush by the about 150 armed groups in the area. It would be even worse than a surrender. The minister reiterated the importance of SA’s involvement in restoring peace to the eastern DRC saying it would be “reckless and irresponsible” not to do so.
He supported the call by African leaders for a ceasefire.
Lamola rejected the suggestion that the mission was underfunded and said it was funded by Sadc, the Sadc Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the UN, with SA.
He said SA would “unapologetically” continue to intervene in the continent which it had done often in the past.
Hattingh said the SA soldiers were not part of a well-planned peacekeeping mission.
“They were thrown into battle ill-equipped, underfunded and without critical support in one of the world’s longest-running and most brutal conflicts. Their own government sent them into war unprepared,” Hattingh said.
He said the lack of accountability for the operational failures spoke to wider issues of governance and leadership. “The president [Cyril Ramaphosa] and the minister [Motshekga] must be held accountable for failing to prioritise the safety and effectiveness of our troops.
“We need to withdraw from the DRC immediately. And minister Angie Motshekga must go — voluntarily or otherwise. The time for excuses is over,” he said, noting that the mission had failed and was doomed from the start.
The SA National Defence Force (SANDF), he said, was broken and needed strong, decisive and competent leadership, which it had not had in a long time.
ActionSA parliamentary leader Athol Trollip also called for the resignation or dismissal of Motshekga.
DA deputy defence spokesperson Maliyakhe Shelembe said it was the responsibility of Ramaphosa and Motshekga to ensure that SA’s soldiers were combat ready before they are deployed anywhere, especially in areas such as the DRC where the heavily armed M23 rebels had long been on the advance.
Motshekga did not address the criticisms of the SANDF and of the SA operation in the DRC in her speech, confining herself to reiterating SA’s foreign policy position to contribute to peace and stability in the continent and the world.
She said she was disheartened by the delay in getting the bodies of the killed soldiers to SA that were still in Uganda, saying they would be back in SA by Thursday at the latest.
ANC MP Malusi Gigaba said SA’s participation in the mission was part of the AU’s 2063 mission to silence the guns on the continent. SA could not sit back while its neighbours were at war, a view supported by IFP MP Russel Cebekhulu and MK MP Edward Ntshingila who, however, highlighted the underfunding of the military, which he said was unable to fulfil its mandate and peacekeeping role.
Ntshingila criticised the government for sending troops to the DRC without support.
EFF leader Julius Malema said the government had been misleading in saying the troops were involved in a peacekeeping mission as they were fighting a war that they could not win and had no end in sight. He called for an immediate ceasefire.
Freedom Front Plus leader and minister of correctional services Pieter Groenewald called on Ramaphosa to appoint a judicial commission of inquiry into allegations that senior SANDF generals wanted Ramaphosa to be told that the military lacked the capabilities for the DRC mission but top generals prevented them from conveying the information to the president.
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