South African President Cyril Ramaphosa instituted an inquiry into allegations that the country supplied weapons and ammunition to Russia, despite Pretoria having taken a neutral stance on its invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Ramaphosa announced the probe on Thursday, hours after US Ambassador to South Africa Reuben Brigety alleged that the armaments were collected by a Russian ship that docked at the Simon\u2019s Town naval base in Cape Town in December. While US intelligence had agreed to provide evidence of the shipment, none has been provided so far, the South African presidency said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The weapons were loaded onto the Russian cargo vessel, the Lady R, before it made its way back from Cape Town to Russia, Brigety said in remarks to reporters on Thursday, a recording of which was obtained by Bloomberg. The shipment \u201cdoes not suggest the actions of a non-aligned country,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The US takes the arming of Russia extremely seriously and the issue remains unresolved, according to the ambassador, who spoke after returning from the US with a South African delegation that had sought to ensure the country retains its preferential trade access to American markets. He didn\u2019t specify what weapons the US believed had been collected and the US Embassy declined to comment further on the claims.<\/p>\n
The rand, which had already been under pressure because of ongoing energy shortages, extended declines against the dollar following Brigety\u2019s remarks, weakening as much as 2.5%. It later retraced its losses and was 1.6% lower at 19.1641 at 6:35 p.m. in Johannesburg.<\/p>\n
Ramaphosa\u2019s office said it was disappointed about the ambassador\u2019s remarks, which it said undermined the spirit of cooperation and partnership that characterized recent engagements between officials from the two governments. The independent inquiry into the allegations will led by a retired judge, it said.<\/p>\n
State Department spokesman Vedant Patel wouldn\u2019t be drawn on whether the US would consider sanctions against South Africa should the ambassador\u2019s claim prove true. While the US has \u201cserious concerns\u201d about a sanctioned Russian vessel docking in a South African port, these were being addressed in discussions with South African officials, he said in response to questions at a regular State Department briefing Thursday.<\/p>\n
The Defense Ministry in Moscow didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
Relations between South Africa and the US have soured over Pretoria\u2019s insistence that it was taking a non-aligned stance toward Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine. The former Soviet Union supported South Africa\u2019s governing African National Congress during the decades-long struggle against apartheid and the party has maintained ties to Russia\u2019s current leaders since the end of White-minority rule in 1994.<\/p>\n
In December 2022, Defense Minister Thandi Modise said she was still awaiting paperwork on the contents of the Lady R, but that the goods that were loaded on it pertained to an order placed before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic.<\/p>\n
The reason America is \u201cinterested in that vessel coming to our shores is actually because America threatens the rest of Africa, not just South Africa, of having anything that is even smelling of Russia,\u201d Modise said.<\/p>\n
\u2018Profound Concerns\u2019<\/strong><\/p>\n Brigety said the US had \u201cprofound concerns,\u201d about the ANC\u2019s hostility toward South Africa\u2019s second biggest trading partner. He accused the party of failing to acknowledge the relations between the two nations, and making \u201cfalse and outrageous\u201d statements in relation to the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is an issue of the political orientation of the ruling party of the country and what it means, as the party that is responsible for deploying senior government officials into the government of South Africa,\u201d he said. \u201cAs one of our senior officials said very clearly to the delegation, how you see us will determine how we see you.\u201d<\/p>\n South Africa is a member of BRICS, whose members include Russia and China, and it\u2019s due to host the economic bloc\u2019s annual summit in August. The African nation is a member of the International Criminal Court and would be legally obliged to effect an arrest warrant it has issued for Russian President Vladimir Putin should he attend.<\/p>\n The ANC declined to comment on the ambassador\u2019s allegations, which were reported earlier by News24, a Cape Town-based website. Fikile Mbalula, the party\u2019s secretary-general, has previously accused Western nations of sidestepping international consensus in order to impose its will on others \u201cin the name of human rights and democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n