SANDF members hold a prayer service ahead Armed Forces Day

Members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) have held a prayer service at the Mbombela Stadium in Mpumalanga, ahead of the Armed Forces Day event on Monday.  
SANDF Lieutenant General Wiseman Simo Mbambo told members of the force that they are the pride of the nation and should continue to be a beacon of hope.  
Members of the SANDF will be honoured for their selfless service to the people of the country.  
President Cyril Ramaphosa, as the Commander-In-Chief of the SANDF, is expected to lay wreaths at the World War memorial in Barberton.  
He will later address Defence Force members at the Mbombela Stadium.  
Mbambo has praised SANDF members. 
“Through the Commander in Chief of the Defence Force, in particular our troops on the ground, you gave home to South Africans. You were the only one who were roaming the street, ready to confront the coronavirus; you were the only one who went to fetch South Africans far away beyond the ocean because God has bestowed hope to the SANDF, for the people of South Africa.” 
Armed Forces Day in South Africa is celebrated annually on the 21st of February. It is inspired by the worst naval tragedy in the country’s history – the sinking of the troopship SS Mendi in the English Channel on that date in 1917.  
Over 600 SA Native Labour Corps troops drowned when the troopship was struck by the SS Darro on its way to France to participate as an ally in the First World War.
Armed Forces Day celebrations:

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