The South African National Defence Union (SANDU) is calling for a comprehensive investigation into the mortar strike on a South African base in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) that claimed the lives of two soldiers.
The union says ascertaining circumstances surrounding the incident will help prevent similar attacks in the future.
The soldiers were part of a mission by Southern African Development Community (SADC) to assist in bringing stability to the war-torn DRC.
SANDU’s national secretary Advocate Pikkie Greeff says, “One of the questions that should be asked is are we properly equipped in that base or in all of our bases where we engaged in this deployment. The second thing that experts have also been going on about, rightly so, is the lack of our ability to attack from the air.”
“In other words, the Rooivalk helicopter or something in the same sense, which is not operational at this stage in the DRC. Those are the things that should be urgently paid attention to and the investigation should look into how we can ensure that our troops are given greater cover to do what is expected of them,” explains Greeff.
Below is the full interview with Pikkie Greeff
Meanwhile, M23 rebels were reportedly behind the mortar attack on the South African military base in the DRC.
The group has been battling with Congolese forces in the eastern town of Sake.
More on the story:
