APA-Pretoria (South Africa) There is no evidence to support allegations that South Africa supplied weapons to Russia during the current Ukraine-Russia war when a Russian ship Lady R docked at its Simonstown naval base last December, President Cyril Ramaphosa has disclosed.
The president was speaking during a televised broadcast to the nation on Sunday evening to redress the allegations made in May by the US ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, that Pretoria had supplied arms in the Lady R to Russia during Moscow’s Ukraine invasion.
Due to the serious nature of the allegations, that same month the president appointed an independent panel led by retired Judge Phineas Mojapelo to investigate these allegations.
“From its investigation, the panel found no evidence that any cargo of weapons was loaded for export onto the ship Lady R,” Ramaphosa said.
He added: “The panel found that there was no evidence to support the claim that the ship transported weapons from South Africa destined for Russia.”
The president laid out what the purpose of the docking was, according to the panel’s investigation.
He said the panel established that the ship docked at Simonstown to deliver equipment that had been ordered for the South African National Defence Force in 2018 by Armscor, the country’s arms procurement company.
In terms of the contract for the supply of the arms, neither Armscor nor the South African National Defence Force, had any control over the means through which the supplier of the ordered equipment would transport them to South Africa, Ramaphosa said.
In its report, the panel outlined the circumstances that led to the docking of the vessel in Simonstown as well as the type of goods supplied and the reasons why the goods were unloaded at the time they were offloaded, the president said.
“When all matters are considered, none of the allegations made about the supply of weapons to Russia have been proven to be true, and none of the persons who made these allegations could provide any evidence to support the claims that had been levelled against our country,” he said.
The allegations levelled against the country had a damaging effect on its currency and economy. “In fact, the allegations have tarnished our image as a country,” he said.
NM/jn/APA