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Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana made it clear that the government had been informed by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen in February already that Washington suspected that South Africa had loaded weapons and ammunition on to the Russian cargo ship Lady R in December last year.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Lady R in South Africa
Godongwana said the government had begun to respond to the allegations at that time and had decided to appoint a retired judge to investigate the US allegations about the Lady R, at the same time as it decided to send national security adviser Sydney Mufamadi to the US to defuse the rising tensions between the two countries.
The Finance Minister was speaking during a briefing given by Mufamadi to describe his mission, which he said had accomplished its task of reaching an understanding with the US about SA’s position on the Russia-Ukraine conflict and other issues, in a series of meetings between senior Biden administration officials, members of Congress and other stakeholders in the relationship between the two countries.
Read more in Daily Maverick: What was Sydney Mufamadi’s US mission? Minister Pandor provides the answers
The tension exploded this week when US ambassador to South Africa Reuben Brigety went public for the first time with the US allegations that South Africa had loaded weapons and ammunition on the Lady R in a clandestine operation at Simon’s Town last December.
He said that this, and other incidents such as South Africa’s participation in a joint naval exercise with Russian and China off the KwaZulu-Natal coast in February, had contradicted Pretoria’s professed non-aligned stance on the Russia-Ukraine war.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Still on the fence — SA abstains from UN resolution condemning Russian aggression against Ukraine
“We are confident that weapons were loaded on to that vessel and I would bet my life on the accuracy of that assertion,” Brigety told journalists in Pretoria on Thursday.
In a statement on Thursday evening, the Presidency noted “with concern” Brigety’s claims that South Africa supplied weapons to Russia last December. The Presidency said that while no evidence has been provided to support Brigety’s claims, the government has undertaken to set up an independent inquiry, to be led by a retired judge, to investigate the scandal.
The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) on Friday démarched Brigety following his accusations. Dirco Minister Naledi Pandor summoned Brigety to be dressed down for his statements and, following the meeting, her spokesperson, Clayson Monyela, said Brigety had “admitted that he crossed the line and apologised unreservedly” for his remarks.
The meeting between USA Ambassador to South Africa @ReubenBrigety and @DIRCO_ZA
took place this afternoon. We conveyed our displeasure with his conduct and he admitted that he crossed the line and apologised unreservedly. The relations between the USA & South Africa are cordial,… pic.twitter.com/5pBxTgyI82
— Clayson Monyela (@ClaysonMonyela) May 12, 2023
Monyela added that the National Conventional Arms Control Committee had issued no approvals for the sale of arms to Russia related to the period and incident in question.
In his own tweet about the meeting, Brigety did not apologise, merely saying that in his meeting with Pandor, he had been able to “correct any misimpressions left by [his] public remarks”. Brigety did not retract his allegations. But both Mufamadi and Monyela had insisted that Brigety had not only apologised for being undiplomatic but also for his allegations.
I was grateful for the opportunity to speak with Foreign Minister Pandor this evening and correct any misimpressions left by my public remarks. In our conversation, I re-affirmed the strong partnership between our two countries & the important agenda our Presidents have given us.
— Ambassador Reuben Brigety (@USAmbRSA) May 12, 2023
However, it was clear from Mufamadi’s briefing on Saturday that although he said he had been able to put relations between the US and SA on a better footing, the Lady R episode remains a threat to relations.
Dirco director-general Zane Dangor, who was part of Mufamadi’s delegation to the US, said the delegations had heard from US officials the same allegations that Brigety had made: that ammunition had been loaded or unloaded to or from the Lady R.
“But there was no concrete evidence presented to us from any of the people that we met. The intelligence services said they may be able to share this with us once the inquiry gets going,” he said.
Dangor denied a New York Times report which he said had quoted a US Senator as saying Mufamadi’s delegation had, in fact, been presented with concrete evidence of arms being loaded on to the ship.
Some members of the US Congress are dismayed that the US State Department did not back up Brigety’s allegations. Pandor and Secretary of State Antony Blinken spoke on the phone on Friday, following which Blinken’s office issued a bland statement that they had underscored the importance of the strategic US-SA partnership.
Spoke today with Minister Pandor about the vital U.S.-South Africa relationship. We discussed further strengthening our partnership to advance shared global priorities. https://t.co/qdby4xx2E9
— Secretary Antony Blinken (@SecBlinken) May 12, 2023
During the briefing, Godongwana was asked what risk the tension between the US and South Africa posed to the South African economy.
“We have done a calculation of some of the risk … What would happen, assuming that there’s what is called secondary sanctions,” he replied.
“The risk in terms of quantum go beyond Agoa [African Growth and Opportunity Act]. There is a massive flow between ourselves and the USA … It would have a massive impact on our financial flows if that were to happen.”
Godongwana said Brigety’s remarks and the repercussions from them were unfortunate, because he had spoken as if the issue had just arisen and had not been dealt with.
“All of us heard about this in February when Secretary Yellen was here and gave me a detailed picture of the strong American views about this matter which was articulated by the ambassador.
“Since then, we have taken a few steps, including the decision to appoint a judge which was taken at the same time as the decision to appoint an envoy. Which means action was taken a long time ago once this matter was brought to the attention of the South African officials. What happened last week was as if this thing was coming afresh,” said Godongwana.
“The markets reacted as if secondary sanctions [were] coming, in light of that announcement,” he said, referring to the rand plummeting to three-year lows against the US dollar following Brigety’s accusations.
Read more in Daily Maverick: Rand on the ropes as power crisis, US rate hikes deliver double blow
“We’ve done our calculations and the flows are massive. They go beyond Agoa – which is but one fraction of the total flows between us and the US. So, we take that issue seriously.”
On Saturday, Mufamadi presented the problems between the two countries as largely a matter of poor communication, and said that both sides had agreed that differences were bound to arise between them on bilateral and multilateral issues because of their different national interests.
He said they had agreed to handle such differences in the future in a way that ensured “the greater good was not sacrificed”.
Mufamadi noted, though, that the two governments were already working together on important issues relating to the war in Europe. For instance, he had frequent phone conversations with his counterpart, US national security adviser Jake Sullivan. He said one of their conversations had led to President Cyril Ramaphosa calling Russian President Vladimir Putin an
Source: DailyMaverick | Read More
