AfriForum seeks answers on the war in the DRC

In February, AfriForum filed a request under the Promotion of Access to Information Act (PAIA) seeking documents on the SANDF deployment to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) Eight months later the army has yet to reply. AfriForum wants to know the mission’s justification, its cost, its funding sources and why troops were sent to North Kivu, a province rich in minerals and home to mining concessions held by politically connected South African firms.

Jacques Broodryk, AfriForum’s spokesman for community safety said the following:

“This continued silence from the SANDF is extremely concerning. The refusal to release basic information creates the impression that information is being hidden from the public, especially given the fact that there have been allegations of political and financial interference surrounding this deployment. It is unacceptable that the lives of South African soldiers can be put at risk for the enrichment of a few influential individuals. The SANDF’s unwillingness to cooperate only reinforces the perception of wrongdoing. If the SANDF has nothing to hide, it should have no problem being transparent.” 

The deployment, known as Operation Thiba and part of the Southern African Development Community Mission in the DRC (SAMIDRC), was launched in December 2023 to help Congolese forces fight the M23 rebel group, which Rwanda is widely accused of backing. South Africa contributed 2,900 troops, the largest contingent, at an initial cost of R2.4bn ($135m)—money the cash-strapped defence force did not have. We covered the causes of the war and our involvement in it in a Long Read post last year.

The mission ended in humiliation. In January 2025 M23 fighters overran South African positions near Goma, killing 14 soldiers and wounding more than 170. By March the troops were surrounded, short of food and ammunition. With Goma’s airport closed, the SANDF chartered a Boeing 767 from Air Zimbabwe to evacuate the wounded from Kigali, Rwanda’s capital, after convoying them overland through Rwandan territory under the escort of the very army they had been sent to confront.

The bulk of the force withdrew between April and June, handing over weapons at the Rwandan border before transiting Tanzania. All personnel and equipment were home by late June. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government insists the operation paved the way for a ceasefire and denies any link to mining interests. Critics, including the Democratic Alliance and the South African National Defence Union, call it a costly fiasco enabled by ANC cronies. AfriForum’s silent treatment from the SANDF keeps the controversy alive.