by TINTSWALO BALOYI
JOHANNESBURG, (CAJ News) – IN some religious or spiritual traditions, rain at a funeral is seen as a good and a sign of the deceased’s soul being cleansed as they transition into the afterlife.
This surely is the hope in South Africa when rain poured at the Swartkop Air Force in Centurion on Thursday evening.
It is at this base that the remains of 14 South African soldiers killed in the conflict in Goma, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in late January.
They were handed over to the bereaved families and a memorial was held for them.
The events that lasted over four hours ended weeks of uncertainty about their repatriation after the soldiers were killed between January 23 and 27.
It was an arduous process to have them back home, first with the closure of the airport in DRC, and this not being an entirely South African exercise but also involving the United Nations (UN).
The remains were taken by road to Rwanda where they were processed for days before being flown to South Africa.
Their return home is reprieve for the families as well South Africa, whose government has been under fire from critics locally and has suffered a blow diplomatically, in the wake of fallout with Rwanda, which is accused of backing the M23 rebels that have taken over Goma.
Grief and a sense of loss were palpable in the faces of the bereaved family members as they were driven into the air force base to identify the bodies of their beloved.
Chaplin- General Ernest Masewu of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) expressed sorrow in an address in which he nonetheless noted, “It is about the need for peace. It is about the need to silence the guns in Africa.”
For President Cyril Ramaphosa, it was one of the most taxing days of his presidency.
Earlier in the afternoon, he was in Cape Town responding to questions to legislators about his State of the Nations Address (SONA), delivered last week. He then took a two-hour flight from Cape Town to preside over the event in Swartkop.
He was later to travel to Ethiopia for the African Union summit, where again the conflict in the DRC is set to top the agenda.
– CAJ News