{"id":54479,"date":"2025-06-15T10:08:58","date_gmt":"2025-06-15T10:08:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/a-failed-spectacle-da-slams-defence-department-over-sandf-homecoming-disarray\/"},"modified":"2025-06-17T12:31:50","modified_gmt":"2025-06-17T12:31:50","slug":"a-failed-spectacle-da-slams-defence-department-over-sandf-homecoming-disarray","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/a-failed-spectacle-da-slams-defence-department-over-sandf-homecoming-disarray\/","title":{"rendered":"&#8216;A failed spectacle\u2019: DA slams defence department over SANDF homecoming disarray"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A contingent of 249 South African National Defence Force (SANDF) soldiers, part of the now-terminated SADC Mission in the DRC (SAMIDRC), was scheduled to touch down in Bloemfontein at midday on Friday. Instead, their arrival was delayed until evening, and they were ultimately rerouted to the Waterkloof Air Force Base in Pretoria.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-media-max-width=\"560\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The first group of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/SANDF?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#SANDF<\/a> troops who were deployed to the eastern (<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DRC?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#DRC<\/a>) as part of the Southern African Development Community Mission in the DRC (SAMIDRC) have touched down at at Airforce Base <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/Waterkloof?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#Waterkloof<\/a>.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TimesLIVE?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@TimesLIVE<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sundaytimes?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@SundayTimes<\/a> <br \/>Video Supplied <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/smhB38sU1c\">pic.twitter.com\/smhB38sU1c<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Shonisani Tshikalange (@21shoni) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/21shoni\/status\/1933567395420922085?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 13, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Defence and military veterans minister Angie Motshekga, briefing media at Tempe Military Base in Bloemfontein on Friday afternoon, attributed the disruption to \u201ctechnical and logistical challenges\u201d involving the SADC\u2019s contracting airline.<\/p>\n<p>But the DA was scathing in its assessment of the situation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat was meant to be a dignified homecoming has descended into disarray,\u201d the party said in a statement issued shortly after the failed midday arrival.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is yet another example of poor planning. The same kind of failure that plagued SANDF operations in the DRC.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The party accused the department of orchestrating a media-centric ceremony without ensuring the basics, such as troop arrival, were secured.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe DA warned that this event was more about spectacle than sincere recognition. Today, those concerns were proved correct. The entire ceremony has turned into a public embarrassment, with soldiers stranded and their supposed heroes\u2019 welcome left in ruins.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While Motshekga stressed that delays were beyond the department\u2019s control, the DA said the chaos reflects a pattern of leadership failure in the defence portfolio.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is not just a failed media stunt,\u201d the DA said. \u201cIt is a sign of deeper dysfunction within the Department of Defence. Repeated logistical failures, both abroad and at home, raise serious questions about leadership and competence at the highest levels.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The disarray in Bloemfontein came just a day after the SADC Secretariat formally began the second phase of troop withdrawal from the DRC, with personnel being repatriated through Rwanda and Tanzania. <\/p>\n<p>The mission was launched in December 2023 with an offensive mandate to push back M23 rebels, but it faced persistent operational hurdles.<\/p>\n<p>In a major setback, M23 rebels seized Goma in January, resulting in the deaths of 18 regional soldiers, 14 of them South African. Since then, SAMIDRC troops had mostly remained confined to their bases until the mission\u2019s formal end in March.<\/p>\n<p>The disorganised welcome on Friday has only added fuel to long-standing parliamentary scrutiny over SANDF\u2019s overseas deployments. <\/p>\n<figure class=\"spip-document spip-document-89140 aligncenter\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/jpg\/samidrc_soldiers_return_waterkloof_sandf.jpg\" alt=\"A contingent of 249 South African National Defence Force (SANDF) soldiers, part of the now-terminated SADC Mission in the DRC (SAMIDRC), was scheduled to touch down in Bloemfontein at midday on Friday. Instead, their arrival was delayed until evening, and they were ultimately rerouted to the Waterkloof Air Force Base in Pretoria.\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What was meant to be a &#8220;dignified&#8221; return of South African troops from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) turned into what the Democratic Alliance (DA) has labelled \u201ca failed spectacle\u201d, laying bare what the party describes as deep dysfunction within the Department of Defence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000089139,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-54479","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000089139,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/samidrc_soldiers_return_waterkloof_sandf.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/samidrc_soldiers_return_waterkloof_sandf.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/samidrc_soldiers_return_waterkloof_sandf.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/samidrc_soldiers_return_waterkloof_sandf.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/samidrc_soldiers_return_waterkloof_sandf.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/samidrc_soldiers_return_waterkloof_sandf.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54479","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54479"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54479\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000089139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54479"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54479"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54479"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=54479"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=54479"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}