A year later, there’s been no inquiry into the death of 14 SANDF members in DRC

More than a year after 14 South African Defence Force (SANDF) soldiers were killed in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), no Board of Inquiry or other official appraisal of the disaster has apparently been conducted, or even launched, into the disaster.

Analysts suspect that the SANDF is delaying a probe into the deaths of its soldiers because the mission was so poorly conceived by its political and military leadership.

The official explanation for the lack of a probe is that the SANDF is waiting for the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to complete its official investigation of the deaths of January 2025, before South Africa does its own inquiry.

The reasoning is that most of the SANDF soldiers who were killed in battles with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in late January 2025, in and outside the town of Goma, were members of the SADC Mission in DRC (SAMIDRC). A few soldiers of the Tanzanian and Malawian contingents in SAMIDRC were also killed in those battles.

But not all the SANDF soldiers killed were serving in SAMIDRC at the time. Some were attached to the UN peacekeeping mission in DRC, called Monusco. This, if nothing else, suggests that the deaths of the SANDF soldiers should be examined as a separate issue from the deaths of members of SAMIDRC.

Read more: Fallen soldiers come home — ‘They lost their lives in pursuit of peace,’ says Ramaphosa

Still waiting for SADC

Deputy Defence Minister Bantu Holomisa confirmed to Daily Maverick this week that the decision which the Department of Defence had conveyed to him was that it was awaiting a report from SADC on the outcome of its own official inquiry before doing its own, “Because it was their [the SADC’s] mission.”

Daily Maverick asked Ishmael Kula Theletsane, director of SADC’s organ on politics, defence and security, if SADC had conducted an official inquiry. His reply was, “Enquiries were done after every incident. However they are not for public consumption.”

Holomisa said he would personally ask SADC if it had conducted an official Board of Inquiry into the deaths. From the SA side, there had been official reports about the incident, “but not in the form of a Board of Inquiry”.

Holomisa said once South Africa had received a report from SADC, it could make a decision to have its own formal inquiry. He noted that Parliament’s defence portfolio committee had told Minister Angie Motshekga it wanted a Board of Inquiry.

EFF MP Carl Niehaus, the party’s defence spokesperson, told Daily Maverick, “Wherever there are deaths, there has to be an inquest. So that inquest, we haven’t received the report on that. We’re still waiting.”

He said Parliament’s joint standing committee on defence had asked about the report, but he did not know if it had been done.

SANDF spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini did not respond to questions about whether an official inquiry was forthcoming.

No review or investigation

Military analyst Darren Olivier, director at the African Defence Review, said he was not aware of any internal South African Department of Defence (DOD) inquiry, appraisal or post-mortem taking place in the year since the fall of Goma to M23/Rwandan Defence Force forces.

“As I understand it, the DOD has not been willing to conduct any review or investigation until SADC produces its own mission completion report, and that can’t even begin until all of the equipment and personnel have been repatriated from the staging point in Tanzania.”

This refers to the fact that after SADC officially terminated the SAMIDRC mission in March 2025 in the wake of the deaths in January, it transported SAMIDRC’s military equipment by land to Tanzania, from where it would be forwarded to South Africa and the other participating nations by sea or air.

“It’s unclear whether the entirely unreasonable delay in that process is on SADC’s side or the DOD’s side,” Olivier said.

“Only after the SADC report is completed, it seems, will the DOD start its own operation completion report. However, I would not expect that to produce much in the way of valuable insights, or to fully dig into the political decisions and failures of the mission, including its under-resourcing.

“After all, nothing technically prevented the SANDF from holding its own tactical reviews in the past year, even if just something small to provide input into the intelligence picture for its forces that remain as part of Monusco, the UN peace mission, but all indications are that nothing of the kind has happened.

“It really seems like both South Africa’s political leadership and the upper echelons of its military leadership would prefer [not to have] any serious reviews into SAMIDRC that ask difficult questions about the very flawed decisions made both in the lead-up to the deployment and once it was in place.”

Iran inquiry snag

Coincidentally, the questions about the lack of an official inquiry into the DRC disaster have arisen while new questions are being asked about the Board of Inquiry that defence minister Angie Motshekga announced on 16 January 2026 to discover why President Cyril Ramaphosa’s instructions that Iranian warships should not have participated in the joint naval exercise Will for Peace from Simon’s Town, were not obeyed.

On that day, Motshekga suggested she had established the board, and it would have to report back to her in seven days.

This was clearly an unrealistic deadline, and on 28 January, Motshekga issued a new announcement that she had appointed three retired judges and a retired navy rear admiral to constitute the Board of Inquiry.

Read more: Three retired judges and a retired rear admiral to probe the Iranian navy ships fiasco

Pikkie Greeff, national secretary of the SA National Defence Union, pointed out that Section 101(4) of the Defence Act stipulated that members of such a military Board of Inquiry had to be employees of the Department of Defence.

Holomisa told the parliamentary defence committee on Wednesday that because of this problem, Motshekga had referred the Niatter back to the State Law Advisers for their opinion on how to proceed.

Niehaus said: “The fact that it is now being referred back to the law advisers because no proper thought had gone into the announcement of this Board of Inquiry, also from the legal advisers of the President, is unacceptable.

“This just compounds the disaster that this whole diplomatic mess was. It extends the period of uncertainty and speculation. I’m absolutely flabbergasted by the mismanagement of this whole process.”

“This Board of Inquiry was unnecessary. It is simply a way of trying to cover up and to cause further confusion in order never to get to the bottom of this issue.”

Niehaus said Ramaphosa himself could and should have established in 30 minutes why his order was not obeyed.

DA defence spokesperson Chris Hattingh agreed, saying, “kicking for touch will not work. We need the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

“It’s very important because what’s unfolding here is the undermining, apparent undermining by the SANDF, of civilian control over the SANDF, which cannot be tolerated. This is a very urgent issue.”

Hattingh also demanded answers about the status of General Rudzani Maphwanya, chief of the SANDF, who he said had turned 65 in November 2025. Hattingh pointed out that the retirement age in the SANDF was 60. The defence minister could extend his term at most to 65.

“So who is the chief of the SANDF at the moment?” he asked rhetorically.

Holomisa said the MPs should address their questions about both the Board of Inquiry and Maphwanya’s employment status to Motshekga.

She was absent from the parliamentary meeting because she was mourning the death of her mother, the committee heard. DM

The 14 SANDF members who died in Goma are:

Staff Sergeant William Eddie Cola;
Staff Sergeant Molahlehi Ishmael Molahlehi;
Staff Sergeant Shwahlane Theophilus Seepe;
Corporal Matome Justice Malesa;
Corporal Rinae Nemavhulani;
Lance Bombardier Itumeleng Macdonald Moreo;
Lance Corporal Tseke Moffat Molapo;
Lance Corporal Metse Stansly Raswiswi;
Rifleman Sebatane Richard Chokoe;
Rifleman Derrick Maluleke;
Rifleman Tshidiso Andries Mabele;
Rifleman Calvin Louis Moagi;
Rifleman Mokete Joseph Mobe; and
Private Peter Jacobus Strydom.