South Africas Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) on Friday, said it will call the US ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety to answer questions, following his accusations that South Africa provided arms to Russia. This was according to Dirco spokesperson, Clayson Monyela on Twitter: Dirco will today dmarche the USA Ambassador to South Africa following his remarks yesterday. Well issue a detailed statement after the meeting. A dmarche is a formal diplomatic step to persuade, inform or gather information from a representative of a foreign country.
Monyela said Dirco Minister Naledi Pandor would also speak to her US counterpart, Secretary Antony Blinken on Friday afternoon. The National Conventional Arms Control Committee has no record of an approved arms sale by the state to Russia related to the period/incident in question. We, therefore, welcome the inquiry established by HE President Cyril Ramaphosa to establish the facts and role players. If any crimes were committed, the law will take its course, he said.
The US ambassador to South Africa told journalists on Thursday, that Washington was confident that weapons and ammunition were loaded onto the Russian cargo vessel Lady R, which docked in Simons Town, Cape Town between 6 and 9 December 2022. We are confident that weapons were loaded onto that vessel and I would bet my life on the accuracy of that assertion, Brigety told journalists in Pretoria.
His accusations appeared to have pushed the rand to a three-year low against the US dollar, hitting R19.32/$ on Thursday. On Friday morning, the currency weakened as much as 1.6% to 19.5148 per dollar, breaching the all-time low of 19.3508 set during the Covid-19 lockdown in April 2020. It had narrowed losses to 19.2337 by 12:51 p.m. in Johannesburg, according to Bloomberg. Business Unity South Africa (Busa) said on Friday, the governments response is unsatisfactory to Brigetys accusations, which seemed to trigger the dramatic fall of the rand against the dollar. Our economy is already buckling under the severe impact of load shedding which is expected to shave off as much as 2% from the GDP growth forecast for 2023, and any further negative developments will sink us even deeper. These allegations, if proven true, will have a significant negative impact on the economy, and will most likely jeopardise our trade relations, in particular our continued access to US markets created under the Africa Growth Opportunity Act (Agoa) which we desperately need, Busa said in a statement.
Brigety said he hoped Pretoria would respond wholesomely to the US concerns, so the two countries could focus on strengthening relations, but his accusations have caused a rupture. Daily Mavericks Ferial Haffajee reported the ANC was expected to take a hardline stance against the US ambassadors claims that South Africa had supplied arms to Russia in December last year. After the ship snuck quietly in the Simons Town Naval Base, mysterious and at the time, unidentified cargo was loaded on and off the ship in the presence of armed men, and under the convenient cover of rolling Eskom blackouts. On Thursday evening, following Brigetys bombshell accusations, the Presidency broke its silence on the diplomatic quagmire, noting with concern his claims alleging the supply by SA of weapons to Russia.
In recent engagements between the South African delegation and US officials, the Lady R matter was discussed and there was agreement that an investigation will be allowed to run its course and that the US intelligence services will provide whatever evidence [is] in their possession. It is therefore disappointing that the US Ambassador has adopted a counter-productive public posture that undermines the understanding reached on the matter and the very positive and constructive engagements between the two delegations, said Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya in the statement. The Presidency said the government has undertaken to set up an independent enquiry to be led by a retired judge.
