After multiple calls from members of parliament and political parties, Parliament’s National Assembly will on 10 February hold a debate on the recent casualties incurred by the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Thirteen SANDF soldiers died in the last week while serving with the United Nations mission in the DRC (MONUSCO) and the Southern African Development Community mission there (SAMIDRC). The debate will look at the implications for the national defence force, amongst others, according to a letter from the Secretary of the National Assembly Thoko Didiza to chief whips and party representatives on 30 January.
The letter “serves to advise members that the Speaker has, in terms of National Assembly Rule 130, acceded to a request to schedule a debate on a matter of urgent public importance (Snap debate) on the following topic – the recent casualties incurred by the SANDF in the DRC and their implications for the defence force.”
The debate, in the name of the Democratic Alliance’s Chris Hattingh, will take place at 14:00 on Monday 10 February.
In a letter to the Joint Standing Committee on Defence, National Assembly, and National Council of Provinces, Democratic Alliance (DA) MPs Chris Hattingh, Maliyakhe Lymon Shelembe, and Nicholas Gotsell, on Thursday requested an immediate urgent sitting of the Joint Standing Committee on Defence.
“Over the last week, the situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has reached crisis levels. No less than thirteen South African troops have died in combat in the eastern DRC, with more wounded. These brave men and women have been left in the lurch by the South African National Defence Force – ill-equipped, under resourced, and unprepared, they are fighting a life and death struggle in impossible circumstances. Lacking critical air support and equipment, our troops are facing immense odds,” they said in the letter.
In light of Wednesday’s postponed defence committee meeting that was due to discuss the DRC situation, and which has now been proposed to take place on Tuesday 4 February, they said, “at this stage, however, it is vital that parliamentary scrutiny takes its rightful place in our democratic set-up. It cannot be that Parliament remains silent and that elected representatives of the South African people are frustrated in their constitutional duties to hold the government to account, in the midst of what is nothing less than an existential crisis for the SANDF and our troops abroad.”
They added that “this matter can no longer be left untouched. Parliament and this Committee must – and is indeed obliged by our duties under the Constitution and the oath we all took – to not shy away from this brewing calamity. Our men and women in uniform, our fellow South Africans, deserve to have their voices heard. It is up to this Committee to take the lead in this matter. If an emergency such as this does not warrant an urgent sitting of the very body responsible for overseeing our armed forces, then this Committee would have failed in its constitutional mandate.”
Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports from the DRC suggest that Rwandan/M23 forces have control of much of Goma, including the airport where South African troops are stationed, and that combat has ceased. South African and United Nations personnel are confined to the compounds. Their extraction from Goma and Sake is to be determined.
Today, Southern African Development Community leaders are meeting in Harare to discuss the security situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A withdrawal of SAMIDRC troops is expected to be on the agenda.
