ActionSA mourns the death of South African citizens in Mozambique this weekend, as military insurgents continue to attack sites in the north of this country.

We call upon President Ramaphosa to take the strongest form of action against what looks certain to become a refugee and security crisis in South Africa. This must take the form of President Ramaphosa insisting on joint military intervention involving the SANDF, with the mandate of SADC and the AU. Deployments to our border regions must also be increased.

With South Africa’s porous borders and failures to manage our borders effectively, we cannot be assured that we will be able to keep ISIS out of South Africa and that training camps do not exist in the north of our country.

The Mozambican government cannot handle this matter on its own and cannot protect its own citizens as well as South Africans in that country.

The security crisis in Mozambique has already cost over 2,000 civilian lives and resulted in the displacement of countless more citizens who have fled in fear of their safety.

The UN estimates that over 1 million Mozambicans need humanitarian assistance. South Africa has a duty to respond decisively to such a threat on our border but also to assist our neighbors in protecting their citizens.

As a country we have a military for exactly this kind of scenario. If our military cannot play a leading role when such a serious security issues poses a threat near our borders, then what is the point of our military?

Minister Naledi Pandor ought to immediately schedule an urgent official visit to Maputo to begin the process of bilateral cooperation in this regard. She has been virtually invisible on this. Additionally, South Africa should be tabling a resolution at the United Nations to draw in international internal cooperation.

We cannot fail Mozambique in the same way that we failed Zimbabwe. We cannot afford another failed state on our borders. ActionSA is clear that decisive leadership is required to respond to this threat for both the people of Mozambique and the people of South Africa.