A South African company delivered arms to Russians on Lady R, government probe suggests

JOHANNESBURG — South African authorities are examining evidence that suggests a consignment of arms was illegally loaded on a Russian vessel docked at a South African naval base in December by a private company, three people familiar with an internal probe by Cyril Ramaphosa's government told Semafor Africa.

Ramaphosa ordered the investigation after the United States ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, accused Pretoria of trading arms with Russia. South Africa's government initially criticized the ambassador for making the allegation publicly instead of using established diplomatic channels. It has since tried to contain the fallout from the diplomatic spat which has roiled financial markets and pushed the rand to lows against the dollar.

But two senior civil servants and a business leader told Semafor Africa an ongoing internal government investigation threw up leads suggesting a private company carried out an illegal arms trade. They are examining evidence that the vessel, Lady R, docked at a naval base near Cape Town and off-loaded arms believed to be from Russia, before collecting a cache of "small arms". The vessel off-loaded more arms than it picked up, the people said.

In a separate development, unconnected to the government probe, Ramaphosa on May 11 said a retired judge would be appointed to run an official inquiry into the allegations made by Brigety. However, he is yet to name anyone.