Cape Town – The South African National Defence Union (Sandu) has called for swift action against any SANDF members found to be involved in an incident – widely shared on social media – that purportedly shows soldiers in the vicinity of dead bodies being thrown on to a pile of burning rubble.
The SANDF on Tuesday confirmed that it was investigating.
“The SANDF was recently made aware of a video clip circulating on social media depicting members in a yet-unidentified defence force uniform throwing deceased bodies in a pile of burning rubble as well as the SANDF member(s) standing around watching them,” the SANDF said.
The incident was believed to have taken place in November 2022 in Mozambique, where South Africa has committed forces as part of the SADC mission in Mozambique (Samim). The force commander of Samim is conducting an investigation surrounding the involvement of its members.
The SANDF said it does not condone the acts committed in the video and those found guilty of such acts would be brought to book.
Sandu said it was deeply concerned about the video depicting members of the SANDF and members of other unidentified defence forces engaged in activities that were clearly in violation of the law of armed conflict.
“Should the video be authentic and depict, among others, members of the SANDF engaging in such activities, it would constitute a grave and disgraceful breach of international law of armed conflict and would be completely unacceptable,” Sandu said.
Sandu added that it was imperative that the SANDF investigates the incident swiftly, in a fair and impartial manner, and that those responsible are held accountable for their actions.
Sandu national secretary Pikkie Greeff added: “Sandu will always stand for the protection and promotion of the rights of our members, but will never tolerate such blatant criminality, which brings dishonour and disgrace to the SANDF, the uniform and South Africa.”
Cape Times