Dear Editor
The Democratic Alliance expresses its condolences with the families of the three SANDF members who tragically lost their lives in the intensified conflict in Sake in the eastern DRC on the 23rd January 2025.
In addition, at least 18 SANDF soldiers were wounded in the ongoing battles with M23 rebels in their new offensive which coincided with the inauguration of US President Donald Trump.
The lack of communication forthcoming from the SANDF about the situation in the DRC is of serious concern.
South Africans must rely on DRC sources to be informed of casualties.
The embarrassing silence comes in the wake of the public assurances by the Minister of Defence, Angie Motshekga, that the SANDF is ready and prepared for any threat.
The South African casualties come after repeated concerns of the DA about the preparedness of the SANDF after years of throttled budgets which resulted in cutbacks in training, failure to modernize equipment, reduced serviceability of equipment, including main battle equipment and the withdrawal of SA air support.
The Democratic Alliance repeats its call for the withdrawal of the SANDF forces from the DRC.
The continued deployment of undertrained, underequipped and under supported South African soldiers in an escalating regional conflict cannot be supported.
Regards
Chris Hattingh MP
DA Spokesperson on Defence & Military Veterans
b@d b0y
The last thing I want to do to you is to hurt you, but it is still an option
metal star
So I\’m real good friends with this guy named Juan Ted. Now, Juan is a pretty amazing guy. He can steal ANYTHING he wants to. Literally anything. It could be the shirt off your back, the wallet in your pocket, or I\’m even sure he\’d find a way to steal your house (And your spouse too). So anyway, one day Juan and I are sitting around watching TV, and they announced that the hope diamond will not be on display anymore and is now getting moved to an undisclosed location. So as we hear this, Juan says \”I\’m gonna steal it\”. Now I know how good Juan is at this kind of stuff, so I just tell him good luck and he goes on his way. Eventually he narrows his search down to a small cave in South Africa. When Juan gets there, he doesn\’t see any guards or anything outside the cave, so he just walks in assuming he was wrong about where the diamond was. He wanders around for a while until he sees a long lit hallway with the hope diamond at the end of it. Confident in his abilities, he strolls over to the diamond and picks it up before realizing its a trap! Suddenly, red lights flashed, armed men came running out, sirens went off. You could hear one of the men say under his breath \”We finally caught Juan Ted.\” But Juan, being the best thief in the world, said \”Not quite. On the count of three, I will disappear.\” As the men looked around confused, Juan began to count. \”Uno. Dos.\” And he disappeared without a tres.