US envoy accuses South Africa of supplying arms to Russia; Pretoria fumes over allegations

The United States envoy to South Africa, on Thursday (May 11), accused the country of supplying weapons to Russia amid its invasion of Ukraine despite the country’s neutral stance. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa calls the allegations “disappointing” in a strongly worded statement.

What did the US envoy say?

The US ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, in a press conference, said that Washington believes Pretoria had sent weapons and ammunition aboard the Russian freighter that docked at a Cape Town naval base in December. “We are confident that weapons were loaded onto that vessel and I would bet my life on the accuracy of that assertion,” said Brigety.

Washington has noted the docking of a Russian cargo ship Lady R in Simon’s Town between December 6 and December 8, 2022, “which we are confident uploaded weapons, ammunition … as it made its way back to Russia,” said the US envoy to South Africa. He added, “The arming of Russia by South Africa...is fundamentally unacceptable.”

He also spoke about how senior US officials have “profound concerns” about South Africa not respecting its professed stance of non-alignment and neutrality over the Russia-Ukraine conflict, adding that this “does not suggest to us the actions of a non-aligned country,” as quoted by Reuters.

“The arming of the Russians is extremely serious, and we do not consider this issue to be resolved,” said Brigety. Notably, South Africa is one of Russia’s most important allies on the continent, however, it has said that it is impartial to the conflict and has abstained from voting on several UN resolutions in connection with the ongoing war.

How has South Africa responded?

Following these allegations, president Ramaphosa’s office hit back and called it “disappointing” that the US envoy had “adopted a counter-productive public posture”.

“The Ambassador’s remarks undermine the spirit of cooperation and partnership that characterised the recent engagements between US government officials and a South African official delegation,” said Ramaphosa’s spokesman Vincent Magwenya, in a statement.

He added, that while there is no evidence provided to support these allegations by the US, “the government has undertaken to institute an independent enquiry to be led by a retired judge.”

Earlier this year, South Africa also held a joint military exercise with Russia and China which the US and other countries in the West expressed concerns about. Additionally, a sanctioned Russian military cargo plane landed at an air force base in the middle of the night to deliver what defence authorities described as “diplomatic mail.”

South Africa summons US envoy

South Africa's Foreign Ministry also summoned theUS ambassador on Friday following the allegations and said he apologised for the remarks and Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor hasalso discussed the issue with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

After the talks, Brigety took to Twitter and wrote that he wasgrateful for the opportunity to speak with Pandor and "correct any misimpressions left by my public remarks." TheSouth African Foreign Ministry also issued a statement, later Friday, and said thatBrigety "admitted that he crossed a line" and"apologized unreservedly."

South Africa’s vow to probe allegations a ‘welcome step’

During a briefing on Thursday, the US State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel without repeating the allegations told reporters that Washington had serious concerns about the docking of the ship at a South African naval port.

US officials had also raised those concerns directly with multiple South African officials, he added. “The deeply concerning piece of this is the docking of a sanctioned Russian vessel at a South African naval port,” said Patel.

Addressing the promise of an investigation into the US envoy’s allegations, the state department deputy spokesperson said, “It certainly would be a welcome step.”

(With inputs from agencies)

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