By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has officially extended by three months the deployment of SA soldiers to the northern parts of Mozambique.
This serves to inform the National Assembly that I have extended the employment of 1,495 members of the South African National Defence Force for a service in fulfilment of an international obligation of the Republic of South Africa towards SADC,” Ramaphosa said in a letter dated February 28 to National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula.
He said the extension covered the period from January 16 to April 15, at an expected cost of R984,368,057.
It was published in Parliament’s Announcements, Tablings and Committee Reports (ATC) on Friday.
This followed a decision of the SADC heads of state summit in Lilongwe, Malawi, in January to extend the deployment of the SADC Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) indefinitely.
There was, however, an understanding that this deployment to fight insurgents in Cabo Delgado would again be reviewed after three months.
Ramaphosa initially deployed 1 495 SANDF members in July last year, also at the cost of R984 million. This was extended by three months in October.
Since 2017, a jihadist organisation called Ahlu Sunnah Wal Jamaah had been waging a violent insurgency in Cabo Delgado. In 2020, the violence escalated. Apart from the SADC deployment, the Rwandan defence force was also supporting the Mozambican defence force.