The allegations that South Africa had supplied arms to Russia last December made it to a meeting between Pretoria’s special envoy and United States (US) diplomats.

National security advisor, Sydney Mufamadi has however remained quiet about the intelligence shared with the two countries on what happened on the Lady R at Simon’s Town last year.

US ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety, had made these allegations public on Thursday, failing to follow diplomatic protocols.

He has since apologised. Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana says that the allegations are not new, and a probe was already in place before Brigety’s comments.

South African arms company, Denel, as well as the arms trade council have no record of any shipment to the vessel related to December 2022.

At the time, Defence Minister, Thandi Modise said that whatever was loaded onto the ship on that date was ordered before the Covid-19 pandemic, and therefore had nothing to do with Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine.  

Meanwhile, these allegations may affect trade relations between South Africa and the US.

But economists have already criticised the might that the US dollar has on international trade, which essentially bullies smaller economies to toe the American line or face further ruin.

In this case, it relates to the US-Nato proxy war against Russia, which is propping up Ukraine to achieve its goals.

South Africa has taken the stance of neutrality on this matter, saying that dialogue will resolve the conflict.