The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has faced its first casualties in the Southern African Development Community Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (SAMIDRC), with two soldiers killed and three injured in a mortar attack.

The SANDF confirmed that on 14 February at about 13:30, a mortar bomb landed inside one of the South African Contingent military bases in the DRC.

As a result of this indirect fire, the SANDF suffered two fatalities, and three members sustained injuries. The injured were taken to the nearest Hospital in Goma for medical attention, according to Department of Defence Head of Communication Siphiwe Dlamini.

Details of the incident remain unclear, and further investigations will be conducted to determine its cause.

SANDF spokesperson Siphiwe Dlamini: “We can only speculate but we don’t want to speculate. We’ll have our investigators on the ground to determine all that surrounds a mortar landing inside our base.”

Julius Malema took a strong stance against the war in the Congo: “Cyril Ramaphosa wants to kill our children in DRC, our troops are sent there to be killed because they are not properly trained, they must come back home and we must stop with any military deployment”

Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Thandi Modise, Deputy Minister Thabang Makwetla, Acting Secretary for Defence Thobekile Gamede, and Chief of the SANDF General Rudzani Maphwanya expressed their condolences to the families of the deceased soldiers and wished the injured members a speedy recovery.

The South African contingent is part of the SAMIDRC, deployed to support and assist the government of the DRC in eliminating Rwandan-backed forces in the region. The SADC forces are allied with the DRC and Hutu Power groups like FDLR.

Other constituents of SAMIDRC include forces from Malawi, Tanzania, and the Congolese Army (Forces Armees de la Republic Democratique du Congo/FARDC).

President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered 2,900 members of the SANDF to join SAMIDRC from 15 December 2023 to 15 December 2024, at a cost of R2 billion, out of a total of R10 billion committed in May last year.

The deployment faces challenges as emboldened M23 rebels threaten the capital of North Kivu, Goma, amid the withdrawal of United Nations peacekeepers serving under the MONUSCO mission.

Earlier this month, M23 rebels fired at a South African Air Force (SAAF) Oryx helicopter, which was hit at least 43 times by suspected AK-47 and PK machine gun fire, injuring the crew. Aviation expert Dean Wingrin warned that the SANDF deployment with SAMIDRC will have “tragic consequences” due to a lack of necessary resources, including attack helicopters and transport helicopters.

Darren Olivier, Director of the African Defence Review, cautioned that SAMIDRC is under-sized and under-resourced for the requirement, and "there will be more casualties."

For background on the conflict and South Africa's involvement in it, see here.