The government has not yet decided what action to take against US ambassador Reuben Brigety who caused a diplomatic storm after accusing SA of supplying Russia with weapons, says international relations & co-operation minister Naledi Pandor.
City Press, which spoke to insiders in the cabinet’s security cluster, reported at the weekend that the Russian cargo ship Lady R did not have any weapons loaded when it was docked at the Simon’s Town Naval Base in December.
The newspaper reported the ship loaded food before it returned to Russia. This was after the ship had delivered an arms order to SA that was placed with Russia before the Covid-19 pandemic.
Briefing the media on SA’s state of readiness to host the Brics summit to be held at the Sandton International Convention Centre in Johannesburg from August 22 to August 24, Pandor said: “I have not had sight, myself, of the report that was referred to in the article by City Press ... [there has been no] discussion in government. Once we have looked at that report, we may determine what further action that might be considered by government.”
Pandor said the report on the saga has not been discussed in any formal meeting of the government “that I have attended”.
In May Brigety accused SA of supplying Russia with weapons and ammunition when the Lady R docked in Simon’s Town, saying he would “bet his life” that it had happened. The accusation prompted a fall in the rand and strained relations between Pretoria and Washington.
President Cyril Ramaphosa appointed a three-person panel chaired by retired senior judge Phineas Mojapelo to determine what had occurred. The report was completed last week and was expected to be handed to the president on Friday.
Pandor said the summit will provide an opportunity for Brics leaders to reflect on all the elements of Brics co-operation, “including the practical mutually beneficial areas of Brics co-operation, regional and global economic and political developments as well as the global governance reform agenda”.
The Brics trade bloc also consisting of Brazil, Russia, India and China account for 42% of the world’s population and 27% of global GDP and about 20% of international trade. The Brics economies accounted for about 21.3% of SA’s total trade with the world in 2022, of which China accounted for 67.6%, India 26.5%, Brazil 4.2% and Russia 1.7%, according to data from the Industrial Development Corporation.
Pandor said SA’s overall trade with its Brics partners has increased by an average 10% from 2017 to 2021. “Total SA trade with Brics reached R830bn in 2022 from R487bn in 2017. Trade with China remains the dominant force but the share of other Brics partners also increased by 10% from 2021 to 2022,” Pandor said.
SA is chairing Brics in a global environment where the eyes of the world are on the country, with developments in the International Criminal Court (ICC) “the sole topic of discussion around the summit for most of the year”, she said.
This spurred Ramaphosa to engage in wide-ranging consultations with Brics leaders and Russian President Vladimir Putin “will not attend the summit in person” and will participate in leaders’ discussions virtually.
As a signatory to the Rome Statute SA would have been compelled to arrest Putin in line with the warrant of arrest issued by the ICC in March for his alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
In the lead-up to the summit, the department of trade, industry & competition and the Brics Business Council will from August 19 to August 23 host a business programme seeking to foster economic growth, promote collaboration, attract investment, and showcase opportunities in SA, the rest of Africa and the Brics countries.
The programme will include dialogues pertaining to accelerating infrastructure development through government-private partnerships; development finance institutions funding instruments; and the oceans economy, among others.
The Brics leaders are expected to discuss Brics’ membership expansion as the “current geopolitical context has driven renewed interest in Brics membership as countries of the Global South look for alternatives in a multipolar world”, the minister said.
“We have had formal expressions of interest from the leaders of 23 countries in joining Brics, and many more informal approaches about the possibilities of Brics membership.”
The New Development Bank (NDB) has to date approved 12 projects in SA, valued at about $5.4bn, “to improve service delivery in critical areas”, Pandor said. The NDB was established by the bloc in 2015 to provide financial support to emerging markets and developing countries for infrastructure and sustainable development. With Katharine Child
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