South African president Cyril Ramaphosa said the allegations ‘undermine the spirit of cooperation and partnership’ between the two countries.
The U.S. said that it’s “confident” that South Africa has armed Russia through secretive ammunition shipments.
“Among the things we noted was the docking of the cargo ship in the Simon’s Town naval based between 6th to 8th December 2022, which we are confident unloaded weapons and ammunition onto that vessel in Simon’s Town as it made its way back to Russia,” said Reuben Brigety, the U.S. ambassador to South Africa. He made the comments in a news conference reported on by South African media outlets including News24.
Brigety’s comments also referred to the Biden administration’s skepticism of the South African government’s claims that it practices a policy of neutrality regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He said: “The arming of the Russians is extremely serious, and we do not consider this issue to be resolved, and we would like SA to [start] practicing its nonalignment policy.”
South Africa says that it practices nonalignment, but the current African National Congress government has long-standing ties to Russia. Last month, ANC officials traveled to Russia for talks with Vladimir Putin’s ruling party on “the recalibration of the global order.”
The revelations provide an additional data point to fit a broader pattern of South Africa’s growing alignment with Russia. South Africa’s continued cooperation with Russia following the invasion of Ukraine has raised eyebrows in Washington.
In February, South Africa held ten-day joint naval exercises with both Russia and China, called Mosi II. The drills involved a Russian warship equipped with hypersonic missiles.
“The United States has concerns about any country . . . exercising with Russia as Russia wages a brutal war against Ukraine,” the White House told the BBC at the time.
Brigety’s allegations today mired South Africa’s political scene in chaos. President Cyril Ramaphosa said there’s no evidence to support the allegations, though the South African president’s office also initiated an independent inquiry helmed by a retired judge. State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel called the probe “a welcome step” today.
For his part, Ramaphosa’s spokesperson charged that Brigety’s allegations “undermine the spirit of cooperation and partnership that characterized the recent engagements between U.S. government officials and a South African official delegation,” News24 reported. Meanwhile, political-opposition figures said that there would be consequences for Ramaphosa’s government if the U.S. claims are substantiated.
The U.S. allegations came as South Africa had sent a delegation to Washington to lobby against the country’s potential removal from trade benefits afforded to it under the Africa Growth and Opportunity Act.