SA will not demand US apology

The government has decided not to demand an apology from the US, whose ambassador to Pretoria, Reuben E Brigety, caused a diplomatic storm between the two countries after accusing SA of providing arms to Russia.

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s national security adviser, Sydney Mufamadi, said the government has decided not to push for a recall of Brigety after a panel established by the president found there was no evidence that SA loaded arms onto the Russian ship Lady R as alleged by the US ambassador.

The allegations, which were made by Brigety in May, soured relations between Pretoria and Washington for months, and led to a weakening of the rand and government bonds, as well as a decline of general business confidence in SA.

“What I can say is they [the US] believed it then but they do not believe it now. The reality is that a key pillar of diplomacy is that we need to look beyond incidents. What has been more important for us is to confront the relationship [with the US] that was lurching into a bad state,” Mufamadi said in an exclusive interview with Business Day after a call with his US counterpart, Jake Sullivan, on Tuesday.

Mufamadi said that after a series of high-level meetings between the two countries, he is confident the US no longer believes arms were loaded onto the Lady R.

A memo issued by the US says Sullivan told Mufamadi he appreciates the “seriousness” with which Ramaphosa addressed the claims about the Lady R in 2022.

“The two national security advisers reaffirmed the strong partnership between SA and the US, and recommitted to advance shared priorities, including trade and investment, infrastructure and climate,” the memo reads.

“With regard to Russia’s war in Ukraine, they confirmed they would continue to confer on pathways towards a just and lasting peace.”

This comes after a high-level intervention by Ramaphosa and trade, industry & competition minister Ebrahim Patel to push for the extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), SA’s preferential trade agreement with the US.

In the call with Mufamadi, Sullivan said the US now understands SA’s neutral stance on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Sceptics asked what he can get out of talking to [Russian President Vladimir] Putin — now we are seeing the results” Mufamadi said.

“The shuttle by African leaders between Ukraine and Russia is beginning to see results.”

Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky told Ramaphosa this when they met in New York, Mufamadi said.

“He cited that there has been a prisoner exchange and release of some children. The US now understands SA’s active commitment to nonalignment is not just a platitude.”

Sullivan thanked SA for hosting the Agoa forum in early November. More than 30 trade ministers from the US and Africa will attend the forum.

International relations & co-operation minister Naledi Pandor was recently forced to explain her apparent irritability upon hearing that two prominent South Africans — Redi Tlhabi and Chris Maroleng — had been asked to appear before the US congressional committee on foreign affairs for an engagement on bilateral relations between SA and the US.

She initially appeared to offer a somewhat authoritarian response in which she questioned the capacity of Tlhabi and Maroleng to speak about SA as mere citizens, saying she was “a little perturbed at this hearing … they invited two South Africans to comment not just on SA’s government but on the ANC as well”.

Spokesperson Clayson Monyela intervened to clarify that Pandor was “not questioning the practice of US Congress committees inviting state and nonstate actors to give testimony or presentations on various topics. She’s rather concerned about the approach in this hearing of blurring the lines between the ruling party and state.”

It seems the minister missed the fact that this is entirely the point. Maroleng and Tlhabi made perceptive and critical input on the US approach in SA that is worth listening to, specifically on the limited usefulness of listening to politicians when wanting to understand this country.

The blurring of lines between SA’s needs and the ANC’s archaic foreign policy position is the cause of the unnecessary turbulence in international relations SA has endured since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. SA’s flirtatious approach to the Kremlin is inexplicable if you don’t understand this. The US Congress now does.