Identity
Person No.
31790
Service No.
93773133PV
Last Name
First Name
Joel
Initials
J
Date of Birth
Unknown
Est. Birth Year
Age at Death
23
Death Record
Date of Death
Cause code
MVA 2,633
Motor vehicle accident
Cause of Death
Died in Military Vehicle Accident, at Gcalima, passenger in buffel that overturned
Military Service
Branch
Army
Rank
Rifleman
Regiment
Unit
Unknown
Defence Force
SANDF 1,025
South African National Defence Force
Location
Country
Locality
Grave Reference
Memorial
Memorial
Location
On a koppie at the Voortrekker Monument, overlooking Pretoria
Address
Coordinates
Panel
Not listed against a numbered panel
On the panel
Position on the panel will be added with photographs
Unit History
Role at time of death
Mechanised Infantry (combined-arms battalion group)
Status
Regular Force
Part of
Formed 1978 as Battle Group Juliet (SWAPO counter-insurgency, Ovamboland); formally named 61 Mechanised Battalion (Group) January 1979; disbanded 2005 at Lohatla. "Battalion Group" reflects its integral combined-arms structure: two Ratel-20-mounted infantry companies, an armoured car/tank squadron (Eland/Ratel-90, later Olifant), an integral G5 howitzer artillery battery, an 81mm mortar platoon, an anti-tank platoon, and an anti-aircraft troop -- not merely units attached for one operation. Fought at the Battle of the Lomba River, 1987. No evidence found that it was ever subordinated to or redesignated as a "61 Mechanised Brigade" -- see the note on that separate OrgEntity record.
Notes
Son of Mrs. E. M. Mokgatle, of Vanderbijlpark
Research notes
DATE DISCREPANCY 25 Aug 2026: pantser.cmvo.org.za's SADF deaths PDF gives this person's Sterf (date of death) as "17 05 72" (DD MM YY) against the same ServiceNo (93773133PV) and name -- differs from this record's DateDeath (1996-01-21). Not overwritten, flagged for reference.
25 Sep 2026, Unit2 service-branch sweep: the stored Secondary Unit "Army" was CLEARED as a duplicate. It was not a sub-unit, it was a service-branch word repeating what the Branch column already says. Secondary Unit is for sub-units -- a company, a squadron, a commando -- and this record's branch of service is unchanged at "Army".
Citations
Unknown
External References
-
Lys van Weermaglede wat aan diens gesterf het (SADF deaths, pantser.cmvo.org.za)
open source ↗
SADF deaths PDF cross-check, 25 Aug 2026 -- date discrepancy noted
- South African War Graves Project open source ↗
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