Do We Have A Deal For You!
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Stephen Francis & Rico
17 November 2023
The Lady R, a sanctioned Russian vessel, which docked in Simon’s Town in December 2022, has placed South African relations with Russia in the international spotlight.
The Lady R, a sanctioned Russian vessel, which docked in Simon’s Town in December 2022, has placed South African relations with Russia in the international spotlight.
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Why has South Africa applied one standard to Russia and another to Israel? To take it a step further, why is South Africa withdrawing diplomats from Israel but working hard to strengthen relations with Iran?
The US trade delegation has used the Agoa Forum, hosted last week in Johannesburg, to reiterate that its economic relationship with South Africa remains ‘strong’ despite the Lady R debacle, differing positions between the two countries on Russia’s war in Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas crisis in Gaza.
It is almost certain that South Africa’s Agoa status will be renewed despite it and the US often being on opposite sides over geopolitical crises in the past year.
The official report into the Lady R debacle was ‘truthful’ and showed no laws were transgressed, President Cyril Ramaphosa told the National Council of Provinces, taking the national security line on making detailed disclosures about the equipment offloaded.
National security adviser Sydney Mufamadi says Pretoria won’t demand US Ambassador Reuben Brigety’s recall or an apology.
The US government has apparently chosen to drop the matter and paper over the dispute, seemingly because there are wider strategic, inter-governmental interests at stake.
South African Police Service Colonel Frans Mathipa was shot in the head and killed by unknown assassins on Sunday, 6 August 2023. Were SANDF Special Forces soldiers the skilled shooters who murdered a seasoned investigator in the Hawks’ Crimes Against the State Unit? If they were, could this explain a court application by the SANDF days before his assassination intended to stymie Mathipa’s investigation into the SANDF’s role in two abductions and potentially other crimes? Open Secrets investigates.
Controversial arms fair Defence and Security Equipment International got under way in London on Tuesday and runs until 15 September. From rocket launchers, tanks and helicopters, to missiles, sniper rifles and the latest surveillance technology, it’s a bizarre performative affair that sees the biggest corporate arms dealers rub shoulders with delegates from some of the most repressive regimes in the world, including Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Bahrain, Qatar and Israel.
Despite calls from members of the ANC and SA Communist Party for the US ambassador to SA, Reuben Brigety, to be recalled or expelled over the Lady R saga, it appears he will almost certainly remain in his position.
Speaking to Russians living in South Africa reminded me of the fear that rules Russia. They may have left Putin behind in Russia, but they can never trust that they are free of him – no matter where they go.
Rather than clarifying details of the mysterious circumstances surrounding the docking of the Russian cargo vessel, the executive summary of the Lady R report leaves many thinking whatever was going on was unlikely to have been above board.
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The executive summary of the report into the controversial docking of a Russian ship in Simon’s Town last year raises more questions than it does answers.
Ukraine is hoping that the tempo of its southern counteroffensive will intensify soon, Volodymyr Zelensky’s deputy chief of staff said in an interview, after the president announced his most high-profile Cabinet shakeup during the war. ‘This is not a Hollywood movie, but a very important thing is that it is going on,’ Ihor Zhovkva told Bloomberg TV on Monday.
An independent panel has found no evidence that weapons were loaded on to the Russian cargo vessel the Lady R, President Cyril Ramaphosa said. But the panel’s report won’t be released to the public, he added.
President Cyril Ramaphosa endorsed the expansion of BRICS and continued partnership between members of the forum ahead of this week’s summit in Sandton. He also indicated that South Africa would continue fostering its ties with Western powers as he announced a European Union-South Africa summit scheduled for later this year.
Colonel Frans Mathipa was shot in the head and killed by unknown assassins on Sunday, 6 August. Who are the skilled shooters who murdered a seasoned investigator in the Hawks’ Crimes Against the State Unit? Is there a link to a SANDF Special Forces unit that is alleged to have abducted civilians suspected of being Isis terrorists? What was this unit of Special Forces operatives doing on the quay in Simon’s Town when containers were loaded off and on the Russian vessel the Lady R in December 2022? Open Secrets investigates.
Data show that Russia is an insignificant trade partner of South Africa. In terms of economic partnerships, it is a clapped-out Lada vehicle, a lemon with not much juice to be squeezed from it.
Where once there was bipartisan support in the US for South Africa and the party of Nelson Mandela, there is now bipartisan disappointment and distrust. The perception of the ANC as an organisation steeped in anti-Americanism and pro-Russian double speak has stuck.
India’s non-aligned policy on Ukraine closely mirrors that of South Africa, and it has abstained from successive UN votes condemning Russia. Yet, India and South Africa’s policies on Ukraine have produced very different outcomes.
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