[imagesource: Screengrab from the offensive social media video / defenceWeb]

A disturbing video has been making the rounds on social media, showing a South African soldier standing by while bodies were being thrown into a fire in Mozambique.

The 20-second long clip has been taken down but it apparently depicted soldiers grabbing a dead man by his arms and legs and tossing him onto a burning pile of rubbish where another body was already ablaze.

One armed soldier is seen standing by and watching, seemingly unbothered, while another is seen recording the incident on his phone.

TimesLIVE reported that members of the SANDF and members of other unidentified defence forces were involved.

Guy Martin, Author at defenceWeb, said via Cape Talk that even though the member of SANDF “isn’t actively participating in the tossing of the bodies, as a bystander, he is still complicit”:

The viral video shows the casually brutal disposal of insurgent bodies – this conclusion is based on the camouflage fatigue that the body on top of the pile of rubbish is wearing.

The above-mentioned ties in with the argument that this happened after an attack at the insurgent base at the end of November 2022.

Image: Twitter / @JVDW19

Martin is 100% sure that the soldier filming the barbaric event is a SANDF soldier – the uniform of the soldier matches that of the South African camouflage fatigue, there is a South African flag on his shoulder, as well as the presence of South African weapons.

WARNING: graphic image of a dead body:

Image: Twitter / @JVDW19

Martin argues that this “goes against the South African laws of armed conflict” as “remains and gravesites are meant to be respected, maintained and marked”, even in a conflict zone.

Disposing of bodies in this manner could therefore result in war crimes, he said.

The SANDF released an official statement on the matter:

The @SANDF_ZA conveniently passes the buck to SADC Military Mission in Mozambique (SAMIM) after shocking video emerges of soldiers burning corpses, presumably of insurgents, in violation of international law. pic.twitter.com/pvjclspHOf

— Julian Rademeyer – @julianrademeyer@newsie.social (@julianrademeyer) January 10, 2023

The SA National Defence Union (Sandu) says it cannot tolerate this kind of blatant criminality:

“The desecration and mistreatment of corpses is strictly prohibited and is a serious violation of international law of armed conflict, to which South Africa is a signatory,” Sandu said.

AfriForum has also demanded that this matter be urgently investigated, calling on the “commander of the South African forces in Mozambique to testify as to the details surrounding this particular event”.

Likewise, DA MP Kobus Marais said the chief of the SANDF should immediately institute a board of inquiry as this “video footage was unacceptable and must be rejected in the strongest possible way”.

[sources:capetalk&timeslive]