By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The mortal remains of Corporal Tebogo Edwin Radebe, who died after an attack by insurgents in Mozambique, will be handed over to his family on Thursday at the Air Base Force in Waterkloof, Pretoria.
SANDF members deployed to Cabo Delgado as part of a Southern African Development Community (SADC) Mission (Samim) in Mozambique came under attack from insurgents during an ambush around the area east of Chai Village on Monday.
“The Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Ms Thandi Modise, will form part of the Department of Defence officials who will formally hand over the remains to the family at the military procession ceremony,” the SANDF said in a statement.
SA National Defence Force Media Advisory || 22 December 2021 || The SA National Defence Force receives the mortal remains of the soldier who died in Mozambique during Operation VIKELA.#SANDF#JointOperationsDivision#RIPSASoldier pic.twitter.com/6vh0CHzkCo
— SA National Defence Force (@SANDF_ZA) December 22, 2021
The ceremony will take place at the Waterkloof Air Force base.
The soldier was from Paul Roux in the Free State and was unmarried. The SANDF said that his name and the funeral arrangements would be announced in due course.
There are about 1 500 South African troops on the ground, while Rwanda, which is not part of the Southern African Development Community, deployed around 1 000 soldiers.
The Extraordinary SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government approved the deployment of SAMIM on 15 July 2021 as a regional response to support Mozambique to combat terrorism and acts of violent extremism.
The country has been plagued by continued acts of terrorism perpetrated on innocent civilians, women and children in some districts of Cabo Delgado.
SAMIM comprises troops deployed from eight personnel contributing countries from SADC, namely Angola, Botswana, Democratic Republic of Congo, Lesotho, Malawi, South Africa, Tanzania and Zambia, working in collaboration with the Forças Armadas de Defesa de Moçambique (FADM) and other troops deployed to Cabo Delgado to combat acts of terrorism and violent extremism.
Modise and her office have once again extended their condolences to the family, colleagues and friends of the deceased.