There are three possible explanations for the diplomatic storm that has broken out between South Africa and the US after Washington’s ambassador alleged that armaments had been loaded on to a ship docked in South Africa and bound for Russia.
Two of these reflect miserably on Pretoria and the ruling African National Congress. The first is that Cyril Ramaphosa’s government really had no idea that arms were being loaded on to the Lady R in Simon’s Town last December. That would be a shocking admission, since it is supposed to be a secure military base. But given the dysfunctionality of the ANC and the levels of corruption and criminality that have permeated core state institutions, it is not entirely implausible.
The second explanation is that South Africa’s government knew full well it was exporting arms to Russia — whether out of a misplaced loyalty to Moscow harking back to the days of the Soviet Union, which backed the ANC’s liberation struggle more than 30 years ago, or because it felt obliged to stick by a fellow Brics country. This would mean South Africa knowingly supplied arms to Moscow in defiance of western sanctions.