PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa version on why the SANDF soldiers were stationed in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has shot down by those who claim to be knowledgeable on the real deal.
As such, he continues to face backlash over the deployment of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where 14 soldiers have been killed.
This was after a Congolese politician Dr Alexis Ruberwa criticised Ramaphosa's recent statement that the 14 deceased were African heroes’.
In a statement issued on February 3, Ramaphosa said the soldiers were in the DRC as part of the South African Development Community Mission in the DRC (SAMIDRC) and the UN Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUSCO).
“As a nation, we pay tribute to our fallen soldiers. They are South African and African heroes. They lost their lives in defence of the defenceless: the men, women and children who are the victims of one of the world’s most protracted conflicts,” the statement said.
Ruberwa, in an open letter to Ramaphosa published on The Great Lakes Eye website said “the African continent has never had heroes involved in ethnic cleansing”.
He said the soldiers were part of a genocidal force that Congolese President, Felix Tshisekedi, was using to wipe out the Congolese Tutsi, an ethnic group of the African Great Lakes region.
Ruberwa said the soldiers had been killed “fighting alongside Tshisekedi’s genocidal coalition force against M23 rebels, who were fighting against an existential threat on Kinyarwanda speaking Congolese, especially the Tutsi who were killed and cannibalised in broad daylight”.
“How would you feel, if Hendrik Verwoerd, Daniel François Malan, and other people who supported Apartheid are written in books as “South African and African heroes?”, the letter reads.
Ruberwa said the soldiers have never been in eastern DRC to support the people of the DRC, as Ramaphosa claimed.
“You hoodwinked your compatriots by claiming that the 14 soldiers lost their lives in defence of the defenceless,” said Ruberwa.
“The defenceless community in eastern DRC that has been targeted for discrimination, hate speech, and systematic killings, is the Kinyarwanda-speaking community. These are the very people that M23 has been trying to protect from extermination.
“It is a shame that you sent thousands of troops to operate with South African Development Community (SADC) forces, SAMIDRC, the Congolese army, the Burundian army, European mercenaries, a myriad of militias grouped under Wazalendo coalition, and the Rwandan genocidal militia FDLR, all against the M23 rebel group which instead was the one protecting the defenseless,” said Ruberwa.
He said that the SANDF mission was there to push back M23 from Sake, and take control of Rubaya mines, an area with deposits of coltan mines in Masisi Territory, North Kivu Province, where Tshisekedi promised to pay you back with the mineral resources’.
He claimed that Ramaphosa pushed for the South African Mining Development Association (MIASA) which his family members and friends control, to have access to the Rubaya mining hub.
“It is public knowledge that your special envoy to the Great Lakes, Jeff Radebe, is married to Brigitte (sic) Motsepe, the President of MIASA, and the sister of the South African first lady.
“Radebe's brother-in-law Patrice Motsepe presides over the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and is one of Africa's billionaires in mining.
Your zeal in fighting M23 is not for DRC’s peace but about your personal gains and appeasing Tshisekedi.”
It was previously reported that Motsepe, the founder and chairman of the African Rainbow Minerals (ARM), was reportedly keen to invest in the DRC phosphate project.
However, the company’s spokesperson Betty Maloka had said that ARM is a leading South African diversified mining and minerals company with operations in South Africa and Malaysia.
“African Rainbow Minerals Limited (ARM) does not have any mining operations, exploration projects or business interests in DRC,” she said.
Radebe had previously said that, according to his knowledge and understanding, that the deployment of South African troops was decided by Ramaphosa, the Cabinet, and the National Assembly as provided for in the Constitution. He said this arose from the decision of SADC to deploy a peacekeeping force to the Eastern DRC comprising troops from Malawi, Tanzania, and South Africa.
“It is, therefore, factually incorrect to say our troops were deployed for the personal gains of the president.
“For clarity, I was not appointed by the president as special envoy to the DRC, but as special envoy to the Great Lakes Region, which comprises more than 10 countries including the DRC, said Radebe, adding that he was no longer married to Bridgette.
Ruberwa said several leaders on the continent and political observers have been calling for political dialogue to end the eastern DRC crisis but ‘Ramaphosa failed to tell his friend Tshisekedi what is right because of his personal economic interests’.
“The M23’s issue is a DRC internal problem that does not need any foreign interference, and therefore, keep your soldiers out of our country.
“By stating that “respect for DRC’s territorial integrity” will be required, you showed that you don’t believe that M23 rebels are legitimate
Congolese citizens. M23 rebels do not violate DRC’s territorial integrity, because it is their motherland,” said Ruberwa.
“You should borrow a leaf and learn from the wisdom of your predecessor president, Thabo Mbeki, who on different occasions, reiterated that the problems in DRC have been caused by the Kinshasa government’s refusal to recognise the Kinyarwanda-speaking people as legitimate Congolese. SANDF to fight against them is to deny them their fundamental human rights,” he added.
Asked for a comment, Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said: “I don't know who Dr Alexis Ruberwa is, and I don't think there's any value in responding to his personal opinion.”
Ramaphosa was recently criticised by political parties and members of parliament (MPs) for the involvement of SANDF troops in the DRC.
Build One South Africa (BOSA) challenged Ramaphosa to tell the country what was really going on in the DRC and why South African lives were being lost.
“Is our involvement in the DRC a selfless mission for regional peace, or are we entangled in a dangerous geopolitical game driven by resource exploitation and private interests?
It can only be national interests that require military power to be deployed to another country,” the party said.
During a parliamentary session on Tuesday, EFF MP Natasha Ntlangwini alleged that the mission was primarily designed to safeguard the mining interests of Ramaphosa’s “white friends” rather than genuinely contributing to regional peace.
Defence Minister Angie Motshekga denied that the main reason behind the deployment of the country’s soldiers in the DRC was to protect Ramaphosa’s business interests. Motshekga said the entire mission of the peacekeeping force in the DRC was based on the mandate of the South.
DAILY NEWS