By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The office of the Presidency has published the ‘executive summary’ of the independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding the docking of the sanctioned Lady R vessel in Simonstown in 2022.
The docking was thrust into the spotlight earlier this year when the United States ambassador to South Africa alleged that the country had used the vessel to deliver arms to Russia for use in the ongoing war in Ukraine.
The Lady R docked at Simonstown between 6 and 9 December 2022, where goods were offloaded and (at the time) loaded under the cover night.
Given the political sensitivity of the situation – it being a sanctioned Russian vessel, and the happenings taking place so secretively and covertly – many questions were raised about what exactly was going on.
President Cyril Ramaphosa then set up an independent investigation chaired by Judge PMD Mojapelo to ascertain what actually happened. In an address on Sunday evening, Ramaphosa said that the full report would not be released to the public – but an executive summary would
“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 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.”
Reflecting the president’s statement, the executive summary clears South Africa of the allegations that it supplied arms to Russia. It also tries to clear up some of the confusion relating to the loading and offloading that took place.
Recommendations in relation to the future management of foreign vessels’ docking at South African ports – as well as communication between ministers, government officials, the failure to write reports and to keep the President abreast of matters of national importance – have been made.
Read the Lady R Executive Summary Report Here: Lady R investigation report summary.