South Africa has mishandled the matter of alleged arms being loaded on to a Russian vessel in Simon’s Town last year.

Research chair of African Diplomacy and Foreign Policy, Professor Chris Landsberg, says that when the DA’s John Steenhuisen posed the question in the National Assembly last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa should have nipped the issue in the bud.

He contends that setting up a meeting with the security cluster would show that government is on top of the allegations. However, establishing an inquiry may take too long. Landsberg says that the US is working very hard to reassert itself as a world power.

Meanwhile, the ANC says that US ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Brigety had apologised to the party’s secretary general for the allegations he aired last week.

The ANC met with Brigety where it firmly reiterated its stance on geopolitics. The ANC-led government has received much flak for its stance on Russian-Ukraine conflict.