WATCH | Bodies of SA soldiers killed in DRC to be brought home on Thursday, Motshekga tells MPs

Parliament held an urgent debate on Monday on the deaths of South African soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The SANDF confirmed on Friday it is working on having the soldiers' bodies transferred to a UN base in Entebbe, Uganda.

Defence minister Angie Motshekga said the bodies of the 14 South African soldiers who killed in Goma in the eastern DRC would be brought back home on Thursday.

She told MPs seven of the soldiers were from Limpopo, three from the Free State, and one each from the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and North West.

Patriotic Alliance leader Gayton McKenzie believes the parliamentary debate should have been delayed until the soldiers' bodies were brought back to South Africa.

“We are busy debating here while our soldiers are not back. The families of the ones that died must now watch on TV, hoping to get some information. There was no rush for this debate. This debate could have been moved until we got our fallen soldiers back, and then we can come here and speak about this.”

EFF leader Julius Malema said the SANDF troops were not sent to the DRC to bring peace. “The deployment of our troops in the DRC is not about peace. It's about sending our soldiers to fight a never-ending war. This government keeps sending them to die in a foreign land and when they do, their bodies are not even brought back with the respect they deserve,” he said.

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