Limpopo Family Mourns Breadwinner Among 14 SANDF Soldiers Killed in DRC

Limpopo Family Mourns Breadwinner Among 14 SANDF Soldiers Killed in DRC

  • Five families of the 14 South African National Defence Force members who perished in the Democratic Republic of Congo have been buried in Limpopo
  • The soldiers died during an ambush that the M23 rebels launched while capturing the Goma airport in January 2025
  • South Africans were shattered by their loss and prayed for the family to receive strength during difficult times

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Tebogo Mokwena, a dedicated Briefly News current affairs journalist, contributed coverage of international and local social issues like health, corruption, education, unemployment, labour, service delivery protests and immigration in South Africa during his seven years at Daily Sun and Vutivi Business News.

Five SANDF members were buried in Limpopo on 22 February 2025
A breadwinner SANDF member was buried in Limpopo. Image: Frennie Shivambu/Gallo Images via Getty Images
Source: Getty Images

MASHISHIMALE, LIMPOPO — Corporal Matume Malesa's relatives mourned that they lost their breadwinner as he and four other South African National Defence Force (SANDF) were buried in Limpopo on 22 February 2025. They were part of the 14 SANDF members who were killed during an M23 ambush in January.

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SANDF member buried in Mashishimale

According to SABC News, Corporal Matume Malesa, one of the members who was killed, was his family's breadwinner and the family mourned that they lost their only source of income. His fellow soldiers attended the funeral and members of the community also bade him farewell.

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What happened to Malesa?

Corporal Malesa was one of the soldiers who were killed when M23 rebels ambushed the SANDF forces at Goma Airport. The SANDF was under-resourced and had run out of ammunition when the attack took place.

The SANDF forces were part of the Southern African Development Community peacekeeping deployment to the Eastern DRC, where M23 rebels are battling for the eastern region of the country. Their bodies were repatriated on 14 February after a delay.

SANDF members carried their comrades' remains
SANDF members were buried in Limpopo. Image: Frennie Shivambu/Gallo Images via Getty Images
Source: Getty Images

Since President Cyril Ramaphosa deployed 2,900 soldiers in 2024, political parties have called for the army to be recalled. Minister of International Relations Ronald Lamola said a withdrawal would be suicidal as they are surrounded by various rebel groups fighting alongside M23.

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What you need to know about the SANDF in DRC

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Presidency denies SANDF deployment is for minerals

In a related article, Briefly News reported that the presidency slammed Rwandan president Paul Kagame's claims that the SANDF is deployed in the DRC to protect President CtyrilRanaphosa's mineral interests. This was after Kagame and his spokesperson slammed Ramaphosa and made the accusation.

The presidency clarified that the SANDF had been deployed as part of the SADC deployment, and has been deployed to peacekeeping missions on the continent for decades.

Source: Briefly News

Authors:
Tebogo Mokwena avatar

Tebogo Mokwena (Current Affairs editor) Tebogo Mokwena is the Deputy Head of the Current Affairs desk and a current affairs writer at Briefly News. With a Diploma in Journalism from ALISON, he has a strong background in digital journalism, having completed training with the Google News Initiative. He began his career as a journalist at Daily Sun, where he worked for four years before becoming a sub-editor and journalist at Capricorn Post. He then joined Vutivi Business News in 2020 before moving to Briefly News in 2023.

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