Minister Angie Motshekga visited Goma in the DRC prior to an attack on the SANDF army base that claimed the lives of SA soldiers. To date, 14 soldiers have been killed.
Image: SANDF
The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) said the repatriation of mortal remains of 14 South African soldiers killed in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been delayed.
Initially, the SANDF said the remains were to be repatriated on Wednesday.
In a terse statement, the SANDF said it completed all administrative processes and handed them over to the United Nations (UN).
"The UN planned movement for the repatriation of the deceased out of the combat zone has been delayed," read the statement.
The announcement of the repatriation was made on Tuesday after Defence Minister Angie Motshekga, accompanied by Deputy Minister Bantu Holomisa and SANDF Chief General Rudzani Maphwanya, appeared in parliament to answer MPs' inquiries regarding the soldiers' deployment.
Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) Member of Parliament (MP) Elsabe Natasha Ntlangwini condemned President Cyril Ramaphosa's decision to deploy SANDF in the DRC saying it was a potential cover for his hidden motivations.
Ntlangwini, alongside other MPs, demanded clarity about the protracted military engagement in the DRC, viewing it as a potential cover for Ramaphosa's hidden motivations.
“We need an inquiry; people's heads need to roll; people need to take responsibility. It can't be business as usual... And you still don’t know how many are likely to perish because your answers here today haven’t been satisfactory at all and it's quite disappointing," she said at the time.
In response to the allegations, Minister Motshekga defended the SANDF’s role, asserting that the troops were deployed under the auspices of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and not solely as a South African mission.
“This was a SADC mission, not a South African mission. It’s not us as South Africa who are in the DRC, but we are there as part of a bigger mission,” Motshekga explained.
Motshekga said if MPs were not satisfied with her answers, there was nothing else she could do.
"I will not repeat the answers that I've given to some of the questions. If members of parliament are not happy with the answers, it's unfortunate because those are the answers we have," she said.
sinenhlanhla.masilela@iol.co.za
IOL
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