Bloemfontein - Almost 50 South African soldiers who “misbehaved” while on the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Congo (Monusco) in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been dismissed, Chief of the SA National Defence Force’s Human Resources, Lieutenant General Norman Yengeni said on Wednesday.
Representing SANDF Chief, General Solly Shoke at a farewell event for more than 400 soldiers departing for the DRC, Yengeni said the dismissal was a stern warning.
“Those troops, 47 of them have subsequently been dismissed from the defence force. In fact, this is a warning to those still going to be deployed. Please do not do it. Don’t get tempted. We know it’s difficult to be deployed. We know the frustrations you are going to face, with no loved ones,” Yengeni said at the (SANDF) mobilisation unit in De Brug, near Bloemfontein.
“When you are deployed, you are going to a war zone. By going to a war, then going out of bounds, you are endangering your life and the lives of others. Those girls you are going to meet at a shebeen, you don’t even know (whether) they are agents. Maybe they have been deployed to collect information. The whole unit dies because of you and your behaviour.”
He urged the soldiers heading to the DRC to be very disciplined. The troops are going on a year-long mission, replacing South African soldiers who have served in the vast African country.
At the same event, Sergeant-Major Victor Kgaladi told the departing soldiers that ill-discipline would have severe consequences.
“You are responsible for your discipline. Your commanders only come in to enforce the discipline if it is lacking. Don’t disappoint this country. If you are going to falter and do anything that is a disgrace, so many people - other than your own self - are going to be disappointed.
“Some of our soldiers went contrary to what I am talking about, they deserted the base, went to places that they shouldn’t be. They were recalled. Those people have been fired. For them I do not care. I only care about their families. Their children are going to stop school, houses might end up being repossessed if they were still servicing bonds and cars are going to be repossessed. There is going to be hunger in their families. For them, I do not care.”
There was a jovial mood inside the mobilisation centre as the soldiers heading to the DRC received “goodwill parcels”, sourced mainly from companies including Nedbank, Old Mutual, Avbob, Hullets and Liberty. Their families would also be receiving hampers packed with goodies provided by companies including Massmart, Nestle, Premier Foods, Lucky Star, UniLever South Africa, Simba, Tongaat Hullets and Anchor Yeast.
Brigadier-General Linda Selepe, responsible for SANDF external operations, said different specialties were being sent to hold the fort in the DRC.
“We will be deploying three groups. We will be deploying a specialist unit to Kinshasa. An aviation unit will be deployed to Goma and the third group will be an engineers squadron,” he told reporters.
The deployment is a rotation for the South African soldiers as hundreds on that mission would be returning home.
The soldiers would be flying to their destination on UN chartered flights. Selepe said the use of UN chartered flights was not because of a lack of capacity in the SANDF.
“It is a responsibility of the United Nations to transport members being deployed to external operations. It is not that we don’t have the capacity,” he said.
“Even the ones returning home will be brought back by the UN,” he added.
An advance group has already left for the turbulent country.
African News Agency
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