by Andrea Cantelmo –
South Africa’s foreign ministry has summoned US ambassador Reuben Brigety following allegations in Cape Town of secretly supplying arms to Russia. South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor is also scheduled to have a direct phone call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken to discuss the issue and resolve any doubts.
The story dates back to a few days ago when, during a press conference, Brigety declared that in December last year the Russian ship called “Lady R”, which had docked at the port of Cape Town since 6 to 8 December. However, the American representative did not accompany his statements with concrete evidence, but said he could bet his own life on the veracity of the allegations made against the South African authorities.
South African Foreign Ministry spokesman Clayson Monyela stressed that the Commission which oversees the sale and delivery of arms “does not possess any data” of such delivery to Russia. “If a crime has been committed, the law will take its course,” he added.
The South African president, Cyril Ramaphosa, had immediately branded Brigety’s statements as “disappointing”. But he later admitted that an investigation into the matter was already underway and that American and South African officials had agreed to keep it under wraps until evidence emerged either way.
The matter has attracted worldwide attention due to its potential seriousness and the German Foreign Minister, Annalena Baerbock, specified that for now there is only talk of “allegations”, but if the facts were confirmed it would be a ” grave violation of international law”.
Relations between Washington and Cape Town have deteriorated following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine due to the neutrality held by South Africa, often questioned due to its membership of the BRICS, due to several utterances by the president (one on all that of getting his country out of the treaty establishing the International Criminal Court, retracted the following day) and for the possibility given to China and Russia to carry out joint naval exercises on its eastern coasts last February.
