SOUTH African soldiers leaving for the Democratic Republic of the Congo for peacekeeping duties should do their country proud, Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota and SA National Defence Force chief General Siphiwe Nyanda said on Friday. “You leave as heroes. Come back as even bigger heroes,” Lekota said as they bade farewell to 90 SANDF members at Waterkloof Air Force Base in Pretoria. “The war of the future is that of getting rid of conflict, not about creating new conflict. The war of the future is about making peace,” Lekota said. Ninety soldiers are to leave for the DRC in batches over the next three weeks to form part of the United Nations peacekeeping mission there. Their duties will include cargo handling, air crash rescue and fire-fighting.