On 11 May 2023, the
United States ambassador to South Africa,
Reuben Brigety, accused the country of supplying arms to Russia during the December 2022 docking of
Lady R. During the same announcement, ambassador Brigety also stated that the ANC, the governing political party of South Africa, had been unresponsive to repeated American attempts at dialogue and that the ANC's policy document on the war in Ukraine was "hostile" to the government of the United States. Ambassador Brigety went on to say that this indicated that South Africa was "not non-aligned", contrary to South Africa's officially proclaimed
non-aligned position on the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Prior to ambassador Brigety's accusation South Africa had also hosted the
naval exercise Mosi II with Russia and China which coincided with the one year anniversary of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Roughly two weeks before ambassador Brigety's accusation, South Africa had sent a delegation to
Washington, D.C. to advocate for the continuation of the country's inclusion in the
African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), during which the American government claims they had raised concerns with the South African delegation about the country arming Russia. South African President and President of the ANC
Cyril Ramaphosa stated that an independent inquiry would be launched to investigate Brigety's accusation. South Africa
démarched ambassador Brigety and claimed that Bridgety later apologized for the statement. Following the accusation, South African Finance Minister
Enoch Godongwana stated that
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen had informed him in February 2023 of American suspicions that South Africa had supplied arms and ammunition to Russia when
Lady R docked. Four days after ambassador Brigety's accusation, the commander of Russia's ground forces, general
Oleg Salyukov, met with chief of the South African army lieutenant general
Lawrence Mbatha to discuss issues of military cooperation and combat readiness. on South Africa by not following normal diplomatic processes but stated that talks with the ambassador thereafter were cordial. Stating that unless one considered the possibility of Russian funding for the ANC, South Africa's support for Russia in its war against Ukraine "made no sense." called for the immediate dismissal of ambassador Brigety, accused the US of spreading propaganda, and stated that if "guns [...] were given to Russia [then] it was a good thing." The South African civil society group
Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse (OUTA) demanded that the South African government publicly share information on what cargo was loaded onto
Lady R and be more transparent about South African arms sales generally. The diplomatic incident caused speculation over whether the United States would be continuing South Africa's preferential trade status with the country through the AGOA, thereby possibly inflicting significant damage to South Africa's economy. There was also speculation that the incident might also threaten the continued status of
PEPFAR in South Africa. The value of the
South African Rand declined from R18.8 per US dollar on 10 May to R19.3 per dollar by 18 May, a decline that was attributed to the incident. In May 2023, South African
Minister of Defence and Military Veterans Thandi Modise insisted "there was
fokol [Afrikaans: nothing] on that ship". At least two South African journalists stated that if the claims are proven false, Ambassador Brigety should be either ousted or punished for making unsubstantiated claims.
Reaction in Russia and Ukraine Russia responded by stating that their government "expressed their intention to further intensify mutually beneficial relations" in a possible attempt to exploit the situation. whilst comparing it to
Colin Powell's 2003 presentation to United Nations Security Council falsely accusing
Iraq of having WMDs. President Zelensky also stated that “anyone who helps the aggressor [Russia] with weapons will be an accomplice with all consequences” in possible reference to the event. == Inquiry findings ==