THOHOYANDOU – Exactly 109 years ago the SS Mendi sank in the English Channel with over 600 South African soldiers on board, and today they are being remembered as the country commemorates Armed Forces Day in Thohoyandou, Limpopo.
It was on this day in 1917 that 616 South African troops died when the Liverpool registered steamship they were traveling in sank just 20 minutes.
The SS Mendi was hit by the SS Darro, a British cargo ship, that was traveling at full speed. The Mendi soldiers who died that day were members of the South African Native Labour Corps. That shipwreck is considered to be one of South Africa’s greatest maritime tragedy of the 20th century.
Most of the soldiers were from the Eastern Cape and they had volunteered to join the corps. Their traditional leaders had sent them in hopes of earning the good graces of the British government for their communities.
Today in Thohoyandou, those who lost their lives will be remembered and members of the South African Defence Force (SANDF) will be honoured.
President Cyril Ramaphosa will lay a wreath in honour of those who lost their lives.
Guy Martin, a defence analyst said the Defence Department is underfunded by about 50% and that is among the reasons the government is withdrawing its remaining troops from the DRC conflict.
“There’s simply not enough money to do all the tasks that they are assigned. I think this is one of the reasons why the president is withdrawing our remaining troops from the DRC. So we can focus on issues at home, whether that's combating gangsterism, illegal mining, and also flood relief.
“We saw in January, multiple Air Force helicopters rescued about a thousand people during floods in South Africa, as well as Mozambique. A lot of those airframes came back from the DRC. So we can see that by cutting our coats according to our cloth, we are able to more effectively do the domestic tasks that the SANDF is assigned to.”