Evidence wa ka Ngobeni and Swapna Prabhakaran
The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) this week faced the difficult task of finding the families of nine South African soldiers killed in action in Lesotho.
The SANDF statement on the deaths listed the names, ages and home towns of the soldiers and included a brief message expressing “sincere condolences to the family and friends” of the men.
Major Louis Kirstein, who released the statement, said the task of tracking down the families of some of the deceased had not been easy. In most cases, the army had only been given street or work addresses of soldiers’ next of kin, making the process lengthy and traumatic.
“Some of those who died were from Bloemfontein, others from Krugersdorp, Umtata, Cape Town. One man was from Copimuaba. I don’t even know where that is,” Kirstein said. A large South African mapping house has no record of any such town or area in the country.
However, the SANDF was able to track down the soldier’s next of kin in the Eastern Cape.
In Bloemfontein, the family of Lance Corporal Sambonga Mtengwane heard of his death on the radio news, hours before the SANDF officially informed them of their loss.
Mtengwane’s fiance, Nokuzola Magau, is still dealing with her anger, trying to come to terms with his death.
“It’s not okay when our husbands are taken to Lesotho, and Lesotho is not our country,” she said.
She said she didn’t even get a chance to see Mtengwane before the SANDF rushed him to Lesotho.
The Unit 1 Parachute Battalion sustained the most loss of life, with six soldiers from the unit reported dead this week.
The battalion representative, Lieutenant Colonel Margaret Neethling, said priests had been sent to inform the families.
She said the unit is “totally empty” this week, because “the funerals have started. The unit is moving from funeral to funeral.”
The youngest South African soldier to die was Lance Corporal Owageng Mothupi. He was 23 years old, a father of two.
His cousin, Serame Mothupi, said: “It was important for our brothers to go to Lesotho. They died to restore peace . but we are hurt it had to be like this.”