SADC mission withdrawal from DRC not sign of weakness but success of peace efforts — SA top brass

Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Mrs Angie Motshekga accompanied by Chief SANDF, General Rudzani Maphwanywa and Senior officials leads the Department of Defence briefing media on the withdrawal of SANDF from who were deployed as part of the SADC Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (SAMIDRC). Ronnie Mamoepa Media Centre, Tshedimosetso House, Hatfield, Pretoria. South Africa. Siyabulela Duda.(Photo: GCIS)

By Peter Fabricius

4 May 2025

The second phase of the withdrawal is under way, says South African National Defence Force chief.

Defence Minister Angie Motshekga and SANDF chief General Rudzani Maphwanya have insisted that the withdrawal of South African and other regional troops from eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – which began last week – is not a sign of weakness. Instead, they argue, it is a result of progress in peace talks in that region.

Last week, 13 truckloads of weapons and equipment, along with 57 soldiers of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Mission in the DRC (SAMIDRC), travelled by road from their bases in Goma and Sake in eastern DRC, through Rwanda to Chato in Tanzania, Maphwanya told a media briefing on Sunday.

The 57 soldiers – 30 of them South Africans – formed the advance party which was organising the withdrawal of the remaining SAMIDRC force which is believed to number between 2,000 and 3,000.

Maphwanya said the second phase of the withdrawal was under way and the entire force would be out of the DRC by the end of the month.

Most military experts have characterised the SADC’s termination of SAMIDRC’s mission on 13 March and its withdrawal from the DRC as the inevitable result of military clashes with Rwanda-backed M23 rebels in late January which killed 14 SANDF soldiers, two from Tanzania and three from Malawi.

But on Sunday Motshekga instead described the withdrawal as the outcome of the “great momentum” of high-level peace efforts by various actors.

These included a peace agreement signed between the government and the M23 movement, which had been brokered with the support of the SADC, the African Union and the East African Community.

DRC SANDF Defence Minister Angie Motshekga and SANDF chief General Rudzani Maphwanya brief the media on the SANDF’s withdrawal from the Democratic Republic of Congo in Hatfield, Pretoria, on 4 May 2025. (Photo: GCIS)

“The withdrawal of the South African National Defence Force from the eastern DRC marks a very important new chapter in our regional peacekeeping efforts,” Motshekga said, adding that the withdrawal was a structured process designed to ensure the safe return of the troops while also ensuring equipment was not compromised.

Maphwanya likewise said the “withdrawal is not a sign of weakness” but part of the process of seeking peace and stability in eastern DRC. He said there was “an element of peace because M23 committed to the cessation of hostilities”.

“We are withdrawing systematically in a phased manner,” he added. He also said South Africa was not abandoning the people of the DRC as the South African contingent in the UN peacekeeping force Monusco remained engaged in peacekeeping efforts.

Asked by a journalist if he was saying that the SAMIDRC had been a success, Maphwanya replied: “By implication, yes indeed, we see SAMIDRC as having contributed to that effort to ensure that there is an inclusive engagement that eventually is leading towards peace.”

Maphwanya explained that he and the defence chiefs of Tanzania and Malawi – the other SADC countries that contributed troops to the SAMIDRC – had met the M23 military command in Goma on 28 March and had agreed that the SAMIDRC could withdraw all its personnel and equipment “unconditionally” by air from Goma.

But later, when they realised that the necessary repairs to Goma airport – which had been damaged in the fighting – were taking too long, they informed Rwanda that they would withdraw their troops and equipment by road through Rwanda to Chato in Tanzania, which would serve as the assembly point for dispersing the troops to their home countries.

He said the South African troops would be flown from Chato to Bloemfontein. The SANDF equipment would be transported by sea from Dar es Salaam to Durban.

Maphwanya would not provide details of the schedule for the return of the remaining troops, apart from saying they would all be out by the end of May. He would also not say how many wounded SANDF troops had already been repatriated in February.

He added that this information might eventually be provided, perhaps to Parliament.

He also insisted that the SAMIDRC was not abandoning any weapons and equipment. “We are not leaving even a pin in eastern DRC,” he said.

Lieutenant General Siphiwe Sangweni, the SANDF’s chief of joint operations, explained that the SANDF had expected the first phase of the withdrawal – the departure of the advance team to Chato – to be completed in one day, 29 April, because of the short distance.

However, it had taken two days owing to poor road conditions and vehicle breakdowns.

“Timing is quite impossible for us to say. With the personnel, we are trying to move them as quickly as possible,” he added, noting that the troops would be flown from Chato in groups.

Read more: South African and other SADC troops finally begin withdrawal from war-torn DRC

He also warned that there would be further delays when the troops arrived at Bloemfontein because they would undergo an extensive social and psychological demobilisation by psychologists and social workers under the control of the SANDF surgeon-general “to ensure that they are now in a good frame of mind”.

Apart from the fierce battles with the M23 between 23 and 27 January, the troops have been held as virtual prisoners of war in their camps since then, in trying conditions.

Motshekga was asked what would happen to the R4.9-billion that Pretoria had allocated for the SAMIDRC mission. Would unspent money be returned to Treasury or be spent by the SANDF?

She indicated that the South African government had allocated R3-billion last December for a further year of SAMIDRC operations. Any money not spent on the operation would be returned to Treasury. However, she said it was not yet clear how much that would be. She also noted that the SAMIDRC was a SADC operation funded by all 16 members of the organisation and South Africa was waiting to hear from the SADC if any money would be left over.

Maphwanya was asked if the SANDF intended addressing the deficiencies in its equipment which had been exposed by the SAMIDRC fight with the M23. He insisted that the SANDF was ready to conduct three major missions at any given time.

Read more: Ceasefire in the DRC: A glimmer of hope amid political turmoil and rebel expansion

But he also noted that the SANDF had identified equipment deficiencies going into the future and these had been spelt out in a report called Journey to Greatness, which described the type of defence force that South Africa would like to have.

“As of today, if we are given an instruction, we will be able to go anywhere in the world where our political leadership takes us.

“If they instruct us to say, tomorrow you wake up, you go to the moon, we will try and find ways of getting to the moon.

“If the commander-in-chief says go to the sun, we will say it’s too hot, we will try and find ways of getting the attire and equipment that will take us to the sun.”

Bram Verelst, senior researcher and Great Lakes expert at the Institute for Security Studies, said: “There is no transparency on what is being negotiated in ongoing peace talks, but a safe withdrawal of the SAMIDRC was high on the international/regional agenda and could have been part of confidence-building steps. Notably, the SAMIDRC withdrawal takes place in the same week an agreement was made on the evacuation of hundreds of Congolese army and police who had been stuck in Monusco bases in Goma since January.”

However, he added that the evacuation of these DRC soldiers and police was negotiated with support of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Goma and thus not directly part of the DRC-M23 talks.

“We can only observe that shortly after the launch of peace talks — both between DRC and M23, and between DRC and Rwanda — real progress is finally made for the withdrawal of the SAMIDRC, and evacuation of Congolese army and police. This reinforces the perception that these security forces were used as bargaining chips by the rebel movement (and Rwanda).” DM

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