Ramaphosa releases executive summary of ‘Lady R’ findings
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday released the executive summary of the findings of an investigative panel into claims that South Africa supplied arms to Russia.
The panel was appointed following allegations by US Ambassador to South Africa Reuben Brigety that South Africa provided arms to Russia via the Lady R vessel that docked in Simonstown in December 2022
The ambassador's explosive claims were met with widespread anger and surprise from the government, prompting President Ramaphosa to establish an inquiry chaired by retired senior Judge Phineas Mojapelo to probe the claims.
The president said arms procurement company Armscor had no say over how the weapons would be transported to South Africa.
"The panel established that the ship docked at Simonstown to deliver equipment that had been ordered for the South African National Defence Force in 2018 by Armscor, the country’s arms procurement company.
"In terms of the contract for the supply of the arms, neither Armscor nor the South African National Defence Force had any control over the means through which the supplier of the ordered equipment would transport them to South Africa."
The ship was carrying weapons ordered from “a company based in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)”, the summary states, and neither the South African National Defence Force nor Armscor, which placed the order, had any idea that a Russian ship would be used.
The weapons order was made in 2018 and delayed by Covid-19 and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
The issue of the vessel docking in South Africa, despite the sanctions against Russia for its invasion of a neighbouring country, is also addressed in the findings.
The fact that the ship was on its way to South Africa and was under sanctions was only discovered by Armscor in “mid-October 2022 when the ship was already on its way”.
The report also declares “those sanctions had not been endorsed by the United Nations and were therefore not binding on South Africa”
The complete report will not be published as it contains classified information.
"The details of the equipment offloaded and its intended use were made known to the Panel. In light of this classified information, the Panel accepted the reasons provided for the decision to offload the equipment at night.
“As part of the standard practice in relation to this kind of equipment (specifically in relation to its intended use), the goods were offloaded at night, under cover of darkness.”
READ FULL SUMMARY BELOW:
LadyR Report Executive Summary for Publication by Mmangaliso Khumalo on Scribd
