South Africa
US army not in South Africa to protect government officials - SANDF─── 08:32 Fri, 15 Jul 2022
The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) has dismissed social media reports claiming US soldiers are in South Africa to protect government officials.
On Sunday, an American military aircraft landed at the Bram Fischer Airport in Bloemfontein en route to KwaZulu-Natal for a military exercise, alongside the SANDF.
SANDF spokesperson, Andries Mahapa, labelled the social media posts as fake news aimed at spreading misinformation.
"This is the most ludicrous statement, the SANDF would like to state clearly and unambiguous that the US Army Southern European Task Force is in South Africa to conduct a joint and multinational peace support operation and humanitarian relief exercise with the SANDF under the operational code name Exercise SHARED ACCORD 2022.”
According to the SANDF, the scheduled exercise was disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mahapa says the joint operation will be working with the KZN Health Department by providing primary health care, dental, and veterinary services in local municipalities.
