President Cyril Ramaphosa has extended the deployment of South African troops in Mozambique and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which will cost taxpayers close to R2-billion.

Ramaphosa informed Parliament's presiding officers of the move in a letter dated 6 April.

In his letter to National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula and National Council of Provinces Chairperson Amos Masondo, Ramaphosa said the deployment of troops in Mozambique would be extended to April 2024.

"This serves to inform the National Assembly that I have extended the employment of one-thousand-four-hundred-and-ninety-five (1 495) members of the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) for service in fulfilment of an international obligation of the Republic of South Africa towards the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to support the Republic of Mozambique to combat acts of terrorism and violent extremists affecting the northern areas of Mozambique under Operation VIKELA," Ramaphosa said.

The extension will be from 16 April 2023 until 15 April 2024, and the expenditure expected to be incurred is estimated to be R984 368 057, according to the president.

The SADC Mission in Mozambique and the Rwandan Defence Force (RDF) in Mozambique are battling Islamic extremists who have waged war in Cabo Delgado since 2017.

More than 4 000 people have been killed and 800 000 displaced since the insurgency started in 2017. Citizens blame the discovery of natural gas and rubies – and bad governance – for the conflict.

The RDF has a contingent of 2 500 soldiers and police operating in Cabo Delgado.

In the volatile DRC, 1 198 soldiers will remain in the country until March 2024 as part of the United Nations Organisation Stabilisation Mission in the DRC.

The expenditure expected to be incurred for this deployment is R1 035 842 286.

Recently, the flight engineer on a South African Air Force helicopter deployed in the DRC was killed after the aircraft was hit by a single round, apparently from a sniper rifle.

Flight Sergeant Vusi Mabena died in the incident on the Oryx helicopter. The co-pilot flew the helicopter to safety in Goma.

The incident happened in Kiwanja, some 70km northeast of Goma in the North Kivu province, a hotbed of clashes between M23 rebels and the armed forces.

Earlier this month, Parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Defence reported that the SANDF's level of defence readiness, including its conventional and secondary military roles, was deteriorating and that it was in urgent need of redress to prevent the loss of capabilities and conventional obsolescence.

The committee noted that a combination of maintenance constraints and a lack of investment in new prime mission equipment directly impacted the force readiness.

Besides South Africa's deployments in Mozambique and the DRC, Ramaphosa also extended the deployment of 200 South African troops to fulfil an international obligation towards the SADC's maritime security. This is to counter the threat of piracy and other illegal maritime activities along the southern African coast in the Indian Ocean.

The extension of this deployment will be from 1 April 2023 to 31 March 2024, and the expenditure expected to be incurred is R35 325 852.00.

All deployments were authorised in accordance with the provisions of Section 201 of the Constitution.