Defence officials are investigating a “despicable” video circulating on social media which seems to show regional soldiers, including at least one member of the South African National Defence Force, contemptuously tossing the bodies of dead insurgents onto a pile of burning rubble, apparently after a battle in northern Mozambique.

The incident appears to have taken place on 29 November 2022 near Nkonga village, in the Nangade district of Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province where a regional force called SAMIM and Rwandan troops have been fighting jihadi forces of Ahlu Sunnah Wa-Jamaah (ASWJ) – affiliated to the Islamic State – since July 2021.

SAMIM – the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Mission in Mozambique – had announced on 30 November that two SAMIM soldiers, a Tanzanian and a Botswanan, and “over 30” ASWJ insurgents had been killed in the battle at Nkonga village.

The video shows the soldiers in military uniform throwing the dead bodies on a pile of burning rubbish, along with furniture and other objects. A uniformed soldier, clearly showing the South African flag on his sleeve, stands by and watches, apparently filming the scene on his phone. The nationality of the other soldiers cannot be discerned.

Darren Olivier, director of the African Defence Review, told Daily Maverick that according to South Africa’s Law of Armed Conflict Manual of 1996 and its Revised Civic Education Manual (2004), “maltreatment of dead bodies” is a grave breach of the law of armed conflict and might amount to a war crime.

It would also be a violation of the Geneva Conventions and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Article 4, fifth paragraph, of the 1929 Geneva Convention stipulates that belligerents shall ensure that “the dead are honourably interred”.

He said it appeared that the SANDF soldiers were not actively taking part in the actions but as they were on the scene they had an obligation to stop it. 

On Tuesday the SANDF issued a statement about the video “depicting the South African National Defence Force and other unknown defence force members engaged in activities against the law of armed conflict”.

Members of the South African National Defence Force patrol the streets in Alexandra, Johannesburg, on 15 July 2021. (Photo: Gallo Images / Sharon Seretlo)

Brigadier General Andries Mokoena Mahapa, director of Defence Corporate Communication, said the SANDF had recently become aware of the video “depicting members in a yet unidentified Defence Force uniform throwing deceased bodies in a pile of burning rubble as well as the SANDF member(s) standing around watching them”. 

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“The incident is believed to have taken place during the month of November 2022 in Mozambique, where South Africa has committed forces as part of the SADC Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM). Once the forces are committed, they form part of a combined force and fall under the command and control of SAMIM. South Africa only supports their mission logistically. 

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“The Force Commander of SAMIM is conducting an investigation surrounding the involvement of its members in this despicable act. 

“The SANDF does not condone in any way the acts committed in the video and those who are found guilty of such acts will be brought to book.”

Broader questions

Piers Pigou, southern African expert at the International Crisis Group, said the video raised broader questions on how SAMIM and Rwanda were conducting the war in Cabo Delgado. 

The video might now have slightly lifted the lid on this “black hole”. It had been almost impossible to get a picture of what SAMIM and the Rwanda Defence Force were doing, in part because the International Committee of the Red Cross had apparently been denied access to the war zone to monitor adherence to international humanitarian law. 

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Apart from the moral questions raised by the video, it would provide great publicity for the insurgents and would probably inspire fierce retaliation, Pigou said. He acknowledged that the disposal of insurgents’ bodies raised logistical difficulties in the difficult circumstances of a guerrilla war.

“But why couldn’t they have buried them at least?” he asked.

DA defence spokesperson Kobus Marais said the minister and chief of the SANDF should immediately institute a board of inquiry into the incident. In the meantime the soldiers involved and their commanding officers should be recalled to South Africa and suspended to allow for unrestricted investigation into the matters.

SANDF soldiers and the South African Police on patrol in Khayelitsha following taxi violence on 22 July 2021. (Photo: Gallo Images / Brenton Geach)

Marais said Defence Minister Thandi Modise should also brief Parliament’s defence committee on the episode as soon as possible to explain under whose authority and jurisdiction the bodies were burnt and whether the bodies were those of civilians or combatants. 

“There are international standards and regulations for dealing with the bodies of the dead in a dignified and humane way, even in a conflict zone. Soldiers must adhere to their code of conduct and international standards and practices” Marais added. 

“What is shown on the video is unacceptable and must be rejected in the strongest possible way.”

Olivier said: “It’s clearly passing the buck to SAMIM, ignoring that SAMIM is commanded by a South African general and staffed in large part by SANDF personnel.

“Military personnel have an obligation to refuse illegal orders, and their home chain of command is accountable for any failure in that line.

“The SANDF needs to be conducting its own investigation, looking deep at its own training and procedures to figure out why this could happen and how it could be prevented from recurring, and sharing the results to reassure the public.” DM