President Thabo Mbeki said on Friday that South African taxpayers should be willing to help cover the cost of the country's peacekeeping mission to the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
"I don't think we can say considerations about money would override participation by South Africa in a situation where you save lives," the SAPA news agency reported Mbeki as saying. "It will cost us something ... as South Africans, we ought to say we are prepared to pay that."
Last week it was revealed that South Africa had budgeted approximately US $15 million for a year-long deployment of specialised military elements in the DRC. Some US $9 million of the total would be spent on equipment for the mission, SAPA said.
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