An Anonymous in DRC shares alarming condition faced by SANDF.

An Anonymous in Goma, DRC shared the following message and a picture with us.

AN URGENT PLEA FROM A SOUTH AFRICAN COMANDAT WHOSE TROOPS ARE TRAPPED IN THE DRC.

(For safety reasons, I remain anonymous, but this message is from the heart of the soldiers held in captivity)

To our families, friends, and the people of South Africa, Between the 23rd and 25th of January, our lives changed forever. 

We were stationed at our bases in Sake and Goma when the M23 rebels launched a brutal attack. For three relentless days, we fought with everything we had, holding our positions while those around us—The DRC army and its allies made of Burundian troops, European mercenaries, and local defense groups—either fled or surrendered. 

We were the last line of defense, the final shield stopping Goma from falling into enemy hands.

But on that third day, we ran out of ammunition and supplies. Our weapons could no longer protect us.

The battlefield fell silent, except for the sounds of our exhausted breaths, enemy gunfire n bombs and the distant voices of the rebels closing in. 

We had no choice but to surrender, raising a white flag—not out of weakness, but because there was simply nothing left for us to fight with. That video you saw, of South African soldiers laying down arms, was real. It was the moment we lost not just our stronghold, but also the control over our own fate.

Since January 25, we have been prisoners of war, surrounded and guarded by the very people we once fought against. We live under their watch, unable to make a move without their permission. We are captives, at their mercy, living in conditions that are steadily deteriorating by the day.

We no longer have access to clean water, our food is rationed and suspicious, and our bodies are breaking down from malnutrition, sickness, and exhaustion. We are served food by the same rebels who once sought to kill us, and it is barely edible. 

Many of our comrades suffer from severe diarrhea, vomiting, and other illnesses caused by unfamiliar, possibly contaminated food and water. Our sanitation conditions are beyond deplorable—there are barely any functional toilets, and disease can spreads easily in this environment.

We understand that our government is in negotiations for our release, but we have been left to rot in captivity while these talks drag on. We hear that the rebels demand that we leave our weapons behind, that we submit to public searches, and that we be escorted through Rwanda before returning home. 

Apparently, our government refuses, arguing that such a process is humiliating for our army and nation. But tell us—what humiliation is worse than what we are enduring right now? Is our government aware that these people bring their journalists to film us and take pictures of us every single day? Will those pictures and videos not be released some day and used to taunt us and mock our Defense force and nation?

Every single day we remain here is a stain on our military's honor. Every day we remain captive adds another chapter to the story of how the South African government abandoned its own soldiers in the hands of an enemy. Every day brings us closer to the possibility that some of us will never make it home.

We are not asking for negotiations over weapons or politics. We are asking for our lives to be valued above military hardware. If the issue is our weapons, let us destroy them. If the issue is a public surrender, let the government prioritize our safety first, and worry about dignity later. 

Right now, we are nothing more than bargaining chips in this dangerous political game, and we fear that we may be sacrificed for strategic benefits that do not include our survival.

We have been cut off from the world. Our phones, our radios—everything we used to communicate has been confiscated. We have no voice left. That is why we are reaching out to you, our families, and our fellow South Africans. You are our last hope.

We plead with you: speak for us. we fought for South Africa, we ask you to fight for us today. Demand our safe return. Knock on every door that might help secure our safe return. We are sons, daughters, brothers, sisters, fathers, mothers, husbands and wives. We belong at home with our families, not wasting away in captivity, surrounded by an enemy that could decide to execute us at any moment.

This is not just about us. This is about our country, our military, and our dignity as a nation. If we are allowed to perish here, what message does that send to every soldier who risks their life for South Africa? What message does that send to our enemies about how little our country values its defenders?

We have served our nation with honor. Now, we ask our nation to serve us with urgency.

Bring us home. Before it is too late.

For the brave for the Proud, For South Africa.

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