It was always going to be a trainwreck—and now the wreckage is on full display.
South African soldiers are dead. SAMIDRC is dead. And South Africa’s ruler, Ramaphosa, is now scrambling to explain himself in a formal inquiry. He sent troops into a war he didn’t understand—something anyone with half a brain could see from day one.
For a start, Ramaphosa didn’t send soldiers to the DRC for peace—he sent them to chase Tshisekedi’s promises of mineral riches. He tied the South African Defence Force to a Frankenstein coalition of tropical Nazis (FDLR), Congolese tribal death squads (“Wazalendo”), corrupt FARDC generals, and European mercenaries—all united by a common mission: the ethnic cleansing of Congolese Tutsi.
What kind of fool supports an army that includes the perpetrators of the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi? Ramaphosa, who cared more about his mining contracts than the lives of his fellow Africans, both South African and Congolese.
Now his SAMIDRC troops are crawling back home like whipped dogs, sneaking through Rwanda and Tanzania under Rwandan military escort—yes, the very Rwandan army Ramaphosa had the gall to smear as “a militia.” The retreat on April 29 wasn’t just a withdrawal—it was a pants-around-the-ankles after being humiliated by the Congolese political-military movement M23/AFC—the very Congolese force protecting Congolese Tutsi and restoring order in eastern DRC.
An official inquiry is underway to figure out how Ramaphosa’s cash-driven mercenary operation went so spectacularly wrong. Ramaphosa strong-armed SADC into replacing the East African Community force—the only regional force that managed a ceasefire and was on the way to broker dialogue, but Tshisekedi booted them out after promising Ramaphosa a fat slice of Congo’s loot.
In a nutshell, Ramaphosa needs to answer for this monumental blunder that cost the lives of South African soldiers’ and Congolese innocents.
He’s the Commander-in-Chief. He turned the South African army into Tshisekedi’s mercenary force, escalated a local conflict into a regional war by building up forces along the Rwandan border, and in the end, got nothing but body bags, political embarrassment, and a convoy of defeated soldiers led home by the Rwandans he insulted.
ellenkampire