Publications
Partners
- In December 2022 , the Lady R docked at Simon's Town's naval base.
- It was alleged the ship was loading weapons to be taken to Russia.
- According to Cyril Ramaphosa, an independent panel's report found no evidence to substantiate the claim.
President Cyril Ramaphosa will not be releasing, in its entirety, the independent panel's investigative report, which found no evidence that weapons were loaded onto the Russian ship, Lady R.
The Lady R docked in the Simon's Town naval base in December 2022.
Addressing the nation on Sunday evening, Ramaphosa revealed some of the details contained in the panel's report.
The panel included Judge Phineas Mojapelo, advocate Leah Gcabashe SC, and Enver Surty.
The president said the panel visited the naval base in the Western Cape, obtained evidence, under oath, from nearly 50 people, and more than 100 documents were submitted for examination.
Ramaphosa said:
Instead, the panel established that the ship had docked in Simon's Town to deliver equipment which 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."
READ | Come clean with Lady R report 'in the interest of credibility', Anton Harber urges Ramaphosa
Ramaphosa said that, in the report, the panel outlined the circumstances which led to the docking of the vessel in Simon's Town, the type of goods supplied, and the reasons why the goods were offloaded at that time.
He did not expand on it, but added that all the relevant permits had been obtained for the importation of the equipment delivered by the ship.
"No permit was issued for the export of arms and no arms were exported."
According to Ramaphosa, the panel did not find any evidence of criminal conduct by any of the persons involved.
Full report won't be made public
Ramaphosa said he would be releasing an executive summary of the report on Monday.
He said he would not be releasing the report in its entirety because the evidence given to the panel was classified and revealing details of the equipment offloaded could jeopardise the work and safety of South African soldiers deployed on the continent.
"In deciding not to release the [full] report, I have taken account of the laws that both mandate openness and transparency, and require that certain information that may be prejudicial to the defence and security of the Republic be kept classified and confidential," Ramaphosa said.
"To reveal the details of the equipment offloaded would compromise important military operations and put our soldiers' lives at risk.
"Under these circumstances, when lives would be at risk due to the revelation of the type of equipment that is utilised by our armed forces, the need for confidentiality is both necessary and justified."
READ | Lady R didn't load South African weapons to Russia, investigation finds
No evidence by accusers
The president was at pains to point out that those who made the allegations and claimed to have information either failed to make submissions to the panel or said they had no independent knowledge of the relevant facts.
Ramaphosa said:
News24 previously reported that US Ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, told a group of journalists that he "bet his life" that South African weapons were loaded onto the Russian ship.
City Press reported that his statement threatened to deliver a heavy blow to relations between South Africa and the US.
It was feared the US would end South Africa's duty-free access to American markets through the African Growth and Opportunity Act.
