South African National Defence Force (SANDF) chief Siphiwe Nyanda on Thursday visited three soldiers at Pretoria’s 1 Military hospital who were injured while on peacekeeping duty in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) last week.
One of the patients, Private Sibongiseni Ntapane, recounted how he and his colleagues were ambushed while under way to Goma from the Rutshura military camp on Sunday.
“We suddenly heard shots and we ourselves had to shoot back,” he said. “We did not know what happened. We were near the border between Uganda and Rwanda when it all happened so fast.”
The gun battle lasted half an hour before their attackers withdrew, he said.
One soldier, Rifleman Martin Mokgatle Tau (33), was injured in the ambush. He and Rifleman Reitumetse David Matlakele (32) died when the military vehicle transporting them and their colleagues back to base overturned. Eleven others were injured and admitted to different hospitals in the DRC.
Six of them were transferred to 1 Military hospital on Monday, three of whom have since been discharged.
Nyanda said the South African soldiers remaining in the DRC are being made as safe as possible.
“I told Parliament last week it was safe, but not as safe as houses,” he told reporters at the hospital.
Tau and Matlakele are to be buried with full military honours this weekend, the SANDF said.
Matlakele is to be buried from his home in Mmabatho in the North West at 7am on Saturday. The funeral will be conducted by 10 South African Infantry Battalion.
Tau will be buried at the Dinokana Village in Zeerust in the North West at 7am on Sunday. His funeral will be conducted by 2 South African Infantry Battalion.
“The Minister of Defence, Mosiuoa Lekota, the Secretary for Defence, January Masilela, and the chief of the SANDF, General Siphiwe Nyanda, express their sincere condolences to the bereaved families,” the SANDF said in a statement.
The soldiers were part of a United Nations peacekeeping mission to the DRC. Lekota was to visit the families of the two dead soldiers later in the day.
ANC condemns DRC violence
Earlier on Thursday, the African National Congress in a statement extended its “deep condolences” to the families of the two soldiers.
“We join all South Africans in mourning these soldiers, who died in the service of their country and in the service of peace on our continent. The ANC welcomes ongoing efforts of the United Nations mission in the DRC to establish the circumstances surrounding their death, and the ambush of their convoy near the town of Goma,” the statement said.
“The ANC joins the South African government and other members of the international community in condemning the resurgance of violence in that part of the DRC. We call on all parties involved to adhere to the protocols and agreements reached in the peace process.”