SA not immune to Mozambique’s troubles, warns SANDF chief

The terrorist insurgency in Mozambique’s northern Cabo Delgado province could spill over into SA if it isn’t kept in check, SA National Defence Force (SANDF) Gen Rudzani Maphwanya has warned.

“Security is relative,” he told journalists at his first media briefing since his appointment in June 2021. “You will be fooling yourself thinking that issues with your neighbour will never affect you. We strongly believe if we do not curb the issue of terrorism and nip it in the bud while [on] the other side [of the border], eventually it will effect the region and SA is not immune.”

The SANDF is in Mozambique, together with other forces in the region, as part of the Southern African Development Community (Sadc) Mission in Mozambique (Samim) to assist Mozambique and Rwandan armies defeat the Al Sunnah wa Jama’ah insurgency, which started in 2017.

Maphwanya said while the SANDF is in Mozambique it should also ensure that South Africans feel protected. For this reason, he welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s acknowledgment on Armed Forces Day on February 21 that its budget was not up to the task. The SANDF’s budget has shrunk by R49bn since 2008.

Maphwanya said SA’s ambitions for its army needed to be matched by resources. “You can’t have the budget that allows you to buy a Coke and expect me to buy you a whisky.”

The SANDF has seen a number of local deployments in recent times, including helping the police to enforce Covid-19 lockdowns in 2020, helping bring the riots and looting in parts of KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng under control in July 2021 and this week the military is also expected to help with rescue and cleanup efforts in the KwaZulu-Natal floods over the weekend.

Maphwanya said the defence force’s own facilities were affected by the floods, which limited its abilities to respond with help immediately, but resources were being mobilised from nearby areas. His press conference came a day after a meeting by the Sadc Troika heads of state meeting, which took place virtually under the leadership of Ramaphosa, who is now chairing the organ.

The deployment was de-escalated from an operation with a small contingent of soldiers that was aimed at addressing the immediate situation to a more traditional peacekeeping effort, which will have the added element of rebuilding communities and returning internally displaced people to their homes and work.

There are more than 500 soldiers on the ground, but 1,495 more had been deployed for the SANDF to use “as the situation unfolds or dictates”, joint operations chief Lt-Gen Siphiwe Sangweni said. The initial deployment, which was for three months, cost SA almost R1bn. It is not clear what the total cost has been to date.