Cape Town — Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) leader, Julius Malema, has said that South Africa should help to alleviate the crisis in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), but not at the expense of soldiers.
Speaking during a school oversight visit, Malema was honest about the current situation in the DRC and said the country has been messed up and destabilised for a while.
“The imperial forces in the West benefit from the instability of the DRC and Africa in particular. If there is any country that was messed up right from the beginning it is the DRC. They have been destabilised for many years because they want those minerals in the DRC,” Malema said.
He said the M23 rebels are not revolutionary and that the DRC leadership has mistreated the people of that region, but he said black-on-black violence cannot be supported as it serves no one’s interests.
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President, Julius Malema spoke to SABC News on the situation in the DRC, during the schools oversight visits.
If there’s any country that was messed up right from the beginning, it’s DRC, they’ve been destabilising that country for many years, because they want… pic.twitter.com/RywYTQjGWH
— Economic Freedom Fighters (@EFFSouthAfrica) January 27, 2025
The EFF leader said sending the country’s troops without the necessary tools to fight off the M23 rebels was tantamount to playing with their lives.
“We should first stabilise DR Congo and support the SADC initiatives and support the UN intervention because the stability of DR Congo means the stability of SADC, and the stability of SADC means the stability of our continent,” said Malema.
“We should be concerned that there are problems in DRC, and before they come to us, they have to be stopped in DRC; you don’t wait for them to come to you so you can realise we have a problem. If they can do it in DRC, that will be the practice. The African agenda is that we must help the people of DRC, but we must not do that to our detriment,” he added.
“We have to deploy the best capacity we have, and if we don’t have it, let’s confess that we don’t have it and withdraw. We may have the interest to defend, but we may not have the capacity. However, children are going to die; somebody’s children are going to die, not only these ones.
“If you shot nine American soldiers, with that madness which is in the Presidency of America now, they would have flattened you the following day. People are playing jokes with the lives of our brothers and we must not allow that. If they can’t give them equipment, let them come back.”
Gunfire rings out in Goma as M23 rebels seize control of the city, a vital trading and transport hub. Thousands of civilians and some Congolese soldiers have fled to Rwanda. South African soldiers have also faced tragic losses, with factors contributing to their deaths… pic.twitter.com/DUULMD6kdK
— Newzroom Afrika (@Newzroom405) January 27, 2025
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Picture: X/@EFFSouthAfrica
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Compiled by Matthew Petersen
