SA Minister reflects on DRC lessons

South Africa's Defence Minister Angie Motshekga still maintains that the deployment of the South African National Defene Force (SANDF) to the DRC was a success despite the loss of 14 soldiers and 174 injuries. A Cape Argus report quotes Motshekga as saying that the presence of the SADC Mission in the DRC (SAMIDRC) in various areas of South Kivu from January 2024 provided safety, security and stability for the people of the City of Goma and the surrounding areas. ‘This was demonstrated by the communities coming back to their places of residence or homesteads as well as their livelihoods. The fights among various illegal armed groups, the M23 as well as the DRC Armed Forces were drastically reduced and with minimal displacement of communities in the far mountain areas,’ she said. Motshekga was responding to Inkatha Freedom Party MP Russel Cebekhulu, who noted the controversy surrounding conflicting accounts of SAMIDRC's success. He wanted to know what Motshekga based her claim of success on, despite the rebels still being in control of key areas such as Goma and Sake, while the peace efforts were elusive. Motshekga said the positive assessment of the SADC Mission’s performance was demonstrated by the UN Mission reports as well as the positive reports by the UN headquarters in New York. ‘The lessons learnt will be utilised in our training centres and schools as scenarios as well as applied in our planning sessions at various levels to ensure improvement in the conduct of future peace-keeping missions,’ said Motshekga.