South African Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya has dismissed accusations that President Cyril Ramaphosa deployed the SANDF in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to protect his business interests, insisting that those making the accusations must present evidence.
Magwenya's reaction comes in response to the recent comments by Rwandan President Paul Kagame's spokesperson Yolande Makolo, who claimed that Ramaphosa’s military actions were driven by his mining interests in the DRC.
In a media briefing on Wednesday, Magwenya said that those making such accusations should provide evidence.
“We will reject those assertions,” he said. “They lack any knowledge.”
The feud between Ramaphosa and Kagame’s spokesperson intensified after Makolo criticised the South African president on social media.
She suggested that Ramaphosa’s true motivation for deploying troops to the DRC was not to help bring peace, but to protect his mining interests.
“South Africans deserve to know the truth,” she wrote on X (formerly known as Twitter).
“You are not supporting the people of DRC to achieve peace. You are sending your troops to fight President Tshisekedi’s war to kill his own people. And this kind of statement only makes the Congolese president more intransigent, while the suffering continues.”
Makolo claimed that the SANDF was sacrificing lives for Ramaphosa’s business dealings in the DRC.
"Please tell your people the truth about the personal interests in mining that you have in the DRC – these are the interests for which, sadly, SANDF soldiers are dying,” she said.
However, taking to X, Ramaphosa emphasised South Africa’s longstanding commitment to peacekeeping efforts in the DRC.
"As a country, we have a duty of support towards the nations of Africa whose solidarity and material support helped secure our liberation,” Ramaphosa wrote.
“South Africa will not let up in its support to the people of the DRC so that they may have the peace and security they rightfully deserve," the president said.
The controversy has sparked debate, with opposition parties, including the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) also accusing Ramaphosa of sending SANDF soldiers to protect the mining interests of his associates.
The red berets have called on Ramaphosa to withdraw the SANDF troops from the DRC.
However, Magwenya rubbished the claims, stating that SA troops have been stationed in the DRC for more than 20 years, dating back to the administration of the former President Nelson Mandela.
“It began through our contribution to the UN Peacekeeping Force in the DRC,” he explained.
Magwenya stressed that reducing the SANDF’s longstanding peacekeeping mission to a matter of mining interests was misleading.
“It lacks the knowledge and the appreciation of South Africa's role in ensuring peacekeeping or ensuring the stability of our continent,” he said.
He reiterated that the SANDF have been involved in peacekeeping missions across Africa, including the recent efforts in Mozambique.
“We were there as part of a SADC-mandated peacekeeping force to protect lives and to ensure stability in our neighbouring country.
“So, that we will reject, and anybody who says otherwise will then have to present proof thereof,” Magwenya added.
As tensions rise, South Africa is grappling with the loss of 14 soldiers killed in the recent clash between the M23 rebel group in the DRC.
Chief of the SA National Defence Force (SANDF), General Rudzani Maphwanya, told Parliament’s defence portfolio committee that the remains of the soldiers who died in Goma, the capital and largest city of North Kivu province in the eastern DRC, are expected to return to South Africa on Wednesday.
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