South Africa: An investigation finds no arms agreement with Russia, as alleged by the US ambassador to SA.

Despite charges from the US, an independent inquiry found no proof that South Africa sold weaponry to Russia for the Ukrainian war, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa stated on Sunday (Sep. 03).

“In recent months, remarks from various [sides] have exploited these claims to call South Africa’s commitment to its position on the Russia-Ukraine crisis into doubt,” Ramaphosa said in a late-night speech to the country.

On May 11, the US ambassador, Reuben Brigety, stated in a news conference in Pretoria that South Africa transferred weaponry to Russia via the Russian ship Lady R, which moored at the Simon’s Town naval port in Cape Town (southwest) in December last year.

“We (the U.S.) are confident that weapons were loaded into that vessel, and I would bet my life on the accuracy of that assertion,” Brigety said. He called South Africa’s “arming” of Russia “fundamentally unacceptable.”

“Amongst the things that we noted, were the docking of the Russian Cargo ship Lady R in Simons Town, between December 6th and December 8th, 22, which we are confident uploaded weapons, ammunitions onto that vessel in Simons Town as it made its way back to Russia.”

Ramaphosa established an independent inquiry in the aftermath of the accusations and appointed retired judge Phineas Mojapelo as chair of that panel.

“From its investigation, the panel found no evidence that any cargo of weapons was loaded for export onto the ship Lady R. The panel found that there was no evidence to support the claim that the ship transported weapons from South Africa destined for Russia,” the head of state emphasized in his speech.

During the course of its work, the panel visited the Simon’s Town naval base and obtained sworn testimony from nearly fifty people at all relevant levels of Government, while more than one hundred documents were submitted for review.

Detrimental effect of accusations

“The accusations levelled against our country had a detrimental effect on our currency, our economy and our position in the world,” the president stressed.

One of the consequences of Brigety’s comments was a dip in the value of the country’s Rand.

“The panel established that the ship docked at Simons Town to deliver equipment that had been ordered for the South African National Defense Force in 2018 by Armscor,” Ramaphosa added.

The panel’s full report will not be released to the public: “Given the fact that the evidence given to the panel was classified and the fact that revealing the details of the equipment offloaded could jeopardize the work and safety of South Africa’s forces in various deployment on the continent, I have decided not to release the panel’s full report.”