Rabia Mayet | rabiamayet@radioislam.co.za

06 May 2025

2-minute read

The SANDF are withdrawing soldiers from the DRC after 14 soldiers lost their lives in the region.

While SANDF Chief Lieutenant General Rudzani Maphwanya calls the phased withdrawal a “progression of political progress towards peace,” military expert Helmut Heitmann says that “the mission was a complete failure.” According to Helmut, the SADAC force who was deployed to neutralise M23, were themselves neutralised.

With limited numbers of less than 3000 soldiers deployed and no air support, the mission was bound to fail from the outset. However, the troops did fight well enough so that nobody overran their base, allowing them to withdraw with honour despite being defeated.

SADAC troops have proved themselves at almost every external deployment and Helmut says that although we’re achieving nothing, at least we’re doing something. In this case, the SADAC did not seem to be thinking this deployment through, and the SA government “still has illusions of grandeur,” despite undermining and crippling the defence force to the extent that they are barely functional.

Despite some noise about irregular expenditure, the defence budget is tightly managed and has less corruption than budgets allocated to other departments. Helmut reiterated that the budget given to the defence force is adequate for a small border guard, navy and air force, but it does not cover sufficient troops, or the equipment required.

Helmut further stated that the defence force is its own enemy as soldiers are “can do” type of people who choose to “make a plan” instead of saying no to every “silly” mission they are given.

The Tanzanian and Malawian SADAC contingents will also be withdrawing from those countries, but for the M23 in the DRC, getting the SADAC force out as quickly as possible was to their benefit.

Listen to the full interview here.