By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says he spoke to South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Saturday and urged him to help implement Kyiv’s peace plan to end the war with Russia.
Zelensky made the remarks in a video address from Rome, a day after Ramaphosa spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin. South Africa has positioned itself as neutral in the conflict.
During the phone call, Zelensky called on Ramaphosa “to join together with other countries, all continents, Africa the joint work to implement [Ukrainian] peace formula.”
Earlier, the United States (US) accused South Africa of supplying weapons and ammunition to Russia.
U.S. officials said, they were “confident” that “weapons and ammunition were loaded onto the Lady R, a Russian vessel under sanctions that docked at Simon’s Town naval dockyard near Cape Town in December.”
Ramaphosa meanwhile told ANC eThekwini members said US ambassador Reuben Brigety ll “launched an attack” on the country by circumventing diplomatic processes when he levelled allegations against the government this week.
Ramaphosa had been responding to suggestions and questions from the party’s rank and file at the Playhouse Theatre in Durban.
Brigety set the proverbial cat among the pigeons this week when he told journalists that he was confident South Africa had sold ammunition to Russia for use in the East European country’s armed conflict with its neighbour Ukraine.
Ramaphosa said the special envoy he sent to the US to “explain” the situation to the US asked its counterparts for evidence of the sale so they could use the information in an inquiry to be headed by a judge.
Ramaphosa’s statement suggested that the the South African government had already planned an inquiry before Brigety made his announcement.
He said the special envoy to the US, led by Dr Sydney Mufamadi, told their US counterparts that a retired judge would look into “the serious matter”.
“That was discussed. They had very cordial discussions,” Ramaphosa said, adding that Brigety was present in those meetings, where officials came to an agreement on steps to address the issue.
Ramaphosa said, now surprise, surprise. The American ambassador comes to South Africa and accuses us and launched an attack against us, which we found quite distasteful because at a diplomatic level, you don’t do things like that.
“But in any event, Department of International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor had a meeting with him [on Friday, 12 April 2023] to express South Africa’s disappointment in him, and he then apologised,” Ramaphosa said.
“He said ‘I apologise’ in the meeting… for the stance he took.”
Ramaphosa didn’t say what exactly Brigety apologised for and Brigety’s tweet contained no apology, although the SA government’s line is that he apologised in the meeting with Pandor.
Ramaphosa also confirmed a call with Putin, which he said “was not because of this… and completely unrelated”, in reference to the fallout over Brigety’s statement.
The ANC branches in the audience cheered rapturously when Ramaphosa spoke of the call with Putin.
“We speak from time to time. And in my discussions with him, we were talking about the African Union-Russia summit.
“He said Africa had been suffering from the Ukraine-Russia conflict and, as a result, is trying to resolve the ongoing conflict.