Patriotic Alliance leader and Minister of Sports Gayton Mackenzie has criticised Parliament for holding an urgent debate on the deaths of fourteen SANDF soldiers in eastern DRC while their bodies are not yet repatriated. During the debate yesterday, Defence Minister Angie Motshekga confirmed that the bodies would be back home by Thursday.

TIMING SUCKS

The SANDF confirmed on Friday that it is working on having the soldiers' bodies transferred to a UN base in Entebbe, Uganda, and then flown to South Africa. McKenzie said the timing of the parliamentary debate is off because the main focus should be bringing the soldiers back home and not debating about it. "We are busy debating here while our soldiers are not back. The families of the ones that died must now watch on TV, hoping to get some information. There was no rush for this debate. This debate could have been moved until we got our fallen soldiers back, and then we could come here and speak about this.' Motshekga told MPs that seven of the soldiers were from Limpopo, three from the Free State and one each from the Eastern Cape, Northern Cape and North West.

WHAT PEACE?

In the heated debate, EFF leader Julius Malema said the deployment of the SANDF in the DRC has nothing to do with peace keeping . "The deployment of our troops in the DRC is not about peace. It's about sending our soldiers to fight a never-ending war. This government keeps sending them to die in a foreign land, and when they do, their bodies are not even brought back with the respect they deserve,' he said.