US ambassador to SA Reuben E Brigety II will face a démarche from the SA government to explain his allegations that Pretoria has aided Russia’s war efforts in Ukraine.
This is ahead of international relations minister Naledi Pandor’s meeting with her US counterpart, secretary Anthony Blinken, on Friday where the explosive allegations by Washington regarding SA’s part in the Russia-Ukraine conflict is set to take centre stage.
In diplomacy, a démarche is issued from one government to another, with the aim of persuading or gathering information from the other government.
“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,” said Clayson Monyela, the international relations and co-operation department’s head of diplomacy.
Brigety on Thursday accused SA of supplying ammunition to Russia in December 2022 when a Kremlin-owned cargo ship was docked in Simon’s Town, which is in contravention of SA’s non-aligned stance on the conflict between Russia and Ukraine.
SA has faced heavy criticism over its seemingly pro-Russia foreign policy stance. This follows its repeated refusal to condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at world forums, as well as a joint naval exercise off the KwaZulu-Natal coast in February and the docking of a Russian cargo vessel in Simon’s Town Naval Base carrying unknown cargo in December.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said the government established an inquiry led by a retired judge to test the veracity of the US claims, while Ukraine’s ambassador to SA, Liubov Abravitova, told Business Day she would request an urgent meeting with defence & military veterans minister Thandi Modise on the issue.
“If any crimes were committed, the law will take its course,” Monyela says.
The rand has dropped as much as 5.7% so far this week to a record worst level of R19.51/$ as the diplomatic fallout threatens trade ties with the US worth R400bn.
On Friday, the rand touched its worst intraday levels of R21.3323 against the euro — the weakest levels on record. It weakened to intraday level of R24.4586/£ — the worst since 2016.
By 12.35pm, the rand had weakened 0.25% to R19.2035/$, 0.19% to R20.958/€ and 0.41% to R24.0665/£. The euro was little changed at $1.0909.
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