The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has confirmed that the bodies of the 14 South African soldiers killed in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will be repatriated today.

They were killed in a fierce fight between the M23 rebels and the Congolese army last month.

Army Chief General Rudzani Maphwanya says a lack of proper training is not the cause of the deaths of the soldiers.

He has attributed their deaths to indirect fire.

Maphwanya was part of Defence Minister Angie Motshekga’s delegation that briefed Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on the situation in the eastern DRC.

“There had been exchange of fire between DRC and Rwanda. That exchange of fire was said to have been initiated by the forces that had been in the base that is at Goma airport, the FRDC elements. These are not the elements that were deployed outside the base, they were just in base but they had never utilised that. And when they utilised that multiple rocket launcher towards Rwanda, Rwanda responded. Later on, after a few minutes is then that the Minister had reported that we then realised that this is just in the senior fire between the two.”

DRC Conflict | SANDF releases names of 14 fallen soldiers: