Africa(Commonwelth Union)_An independent investigation has confirmed that there is no evidence to support the allegations that South Africa supplied weapons to Russia for the war in Ukraine. These accusations had been made by the United States, but South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Sunday (Sep. 03) that the investigation had found no basis for these claims.
Ramaphosa addressed the nation and noted that these accusations had raised doubts about South Africa’s stance on the Russia-Ukraine conflict. In May, the U.S. ambassador, Reuben Brigety, had stated during a press conference in Pretoria that South Africa had provided weapons to Russia through the Russian ship Lady R, which had docked at the Simon’s Town naval base in Cape Town in December of the previous year. Brigety had expressed confidence in the accuracy of this assertion and deemed South Africa’s support for Russia as “fundamentally unacceptable.”
In response to these allegations, President Ramaphosa had initiated an independent inquiry, appointing retired judge Phineas Mojapelo to lead the panel. Ramaphosa revealed that the panel’s investigation had found no evidence supporting the claim that weapons were loaded onto the ship Lady R in South Africa for export to Russia.
The panel had undertaken extensive work, including visiting the Simon’s Town naval base and gathering sworn testimonies from numerous individuals at various government levels. Over a hundred documents were also reviewed during the investigation.
The president highlighted the adverse impact of these accusations on South Africa, which had led to a depreciation of the country’s currency and had economic and international repercussions.
Regarding the Lady R ship, President Ramaphosa clarified that it had docked in Simons Town to deliver equipment that had been ordered for the South African National Defense Force in 2018 by Armscor, not to transport weapons to Russia.
Despite the findings of the investigation, the full report will not be made public due to the classified nature of the evidence provided to the panel. Ramaphosa expressed concern that revealing details about the offloaded equipment could jeopardize the safety of South African forces deployed on the continent.
