The Lady R arrived in the dead of night and under cover of darkness thanks to load-shedding in Simon’s Town naval base.
Since then, the same cover of secrecy has enveloped everything that happened on the night of December 6 2022 and thereafter.
There still is no clarity or facts to either prove or disprove what was so important about the cargo that the vessel had to apply every possible means to keep its arrival and departure three days later secret.
As with the clandestine arrival of a commercial Russian cargo aircraft at Waterkloof Air Force Base “to deliver diplomatic mail”, the SA National Defence Force facilities ended up being slated as culprits in the government’s diplomatic shenanigans.
The past week’s diplomatic fallout between SA and the US, with ambassador Reuben Brigety accusing SA of supplying armaments to Russia, has also branded the local arms industry as suspect to some extent. It is, after all, the very same industry which would have supplied those arms to Russia.
The immediate effect on current and future negotiations for arms contracts with foreign suppliers will no doubt also be tainted, whether the US claims are proved true or not.
The saying goes that when the elephants are fighting, the grass gets trampled. In the past week it was not only SA’s reputation which suffered irreparable harm but also the military and its related industries.
No explanations
Still there are no reports, no parliamentary answers and no explanations to the nation about whether there really was some sensitive cargo on the Lady R — or whether that mission is just used as a stick in the diplomatic fallout.
The facts about Lady R’s mission are scant. The vessel’s automatic identification systems, which provide its position, identification and other information to other ships and to coastal authorities, were switched off when it slipped into Simon’s Town. Either the nature of the delivery or the ownership of the vessel as one being sanctioned by the US was obscured.
While the navy was apparently kept out of the loop as to the reasons it had to facilitate the Lady R, Armscor, as the procurement agency for the defence force, was out in force. Its logistic transport company’s trucks were waiting and so were a mobile crane and security. The base was heavily guarded by military police and the docks became very busy for the rest of the night with the cranes running non-stop.
Thanks to all the retired naval officers in the area armed with binoculars, it could be ascertained that some unrelated cargo was offloaded to get to the consignment for SA.
Once that was offloaded onto the waiting trucks, the unrelated cargo was loaded back. The trucks departed under escort and the shipment was apparently delivered to 91 Ammunition Depot in Mookgophong (previously Naboomspruit).
Special forces
The armaments were apparently destined for the SA Special Forces, which are involved in the Southern African Development Community mission in Mozambique.
The Lady R in the meantime departed and made her way to Beira in Mozambique until after Christmas. In January the vessel docked at Port Sudan before heading for the Suez Canal and Istanbul. It apparently made it back to Novorossiysk, a port city on the Black Sea.
The vessel belongs to Transmorflot, which in May 2022 was sanctioned by the US for supplying Russian forces in Ukraine. After the sanctioning, the company changed its name to MG-Flot. The vessel had never docked in SA before December.
What possible armaments SA could have supplied which would be of any urgent use to Russia is questionable considering the defence budget’s constraints. The arms industry has been decimated for the same reasons other state enterprises have been hollowed out, with Denel now a shadow of the state arms manufacturer it once was.
According to maritime sources, the Lady R was also not heavily loaded when it left the harbour, judging by how deep the vessel was resting in the water. Yet it now finds itself in the stormy diplomatic waters together with the rest of SA.
A judicial investigation will determine the facts, which could have been supplied six months ago. How long it will take is anybody’s guess. Whether it will leave SA, its military and its industry in a better place remains to be seen.
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