Defence Chair urges calm as SANDF Suffers losses in DRC

Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans, Dakota Legoete, says South Africans must stay calm with regards to the issue of South African Defence Force’s (SANDF) presence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

This follows the loss of nine soldiers this week who formed part of the United Nations and Southern African peacekeeping force in the eastern DRC as M23 rebels advanced on the city of Goma.

Two of the South African fatalities were from the UN peacekeeping forces and seven from the Southern African mission in the DRC.

Legoete says calls by some opposition parties for the recall of the South African peacekeeping contingent are premature.

Legoete has passed his condolences to the nation and the families of the soldiers on the Portfolio Committee’s behalf and lauded their brave sacrifice.

“The work they were doing there on our behalf to bring stability in the region is very great because if people are to flee the DRC, Cape Town is one kilometre away from the DRC; they will all come here. But through these particular peacekeeping missions and peace effort, it gives the people of the DRC a chance to engage and resolve their matters through their own effort. But for our part as the Portfolio Committee, we know that the Minister and the Chief of the Defence Force left for the DRC on Thursday; they came back yesterday; they still have to report to the President as the Commander in Chief, and once the President has received a report, the portfolio committee will receive a briefing.”

It has meanwhile, emerged that four peacekeeping troops from Malawi and Uruguay were killed yesterday in the DRC.