South African officials today hit back at US accusations that a sanctioned Russian ship loaded weapons from a naval base near Cape Town late last year, a move investors fear could lead Washington to impose sanctions.

The US ambassador to South Africa said Thursday he was certain a Russian ship loaded weapons from the Simons Town naval base in December, suggesting the incident was inconsistent with Pretoria’s declared neutrality in the Ukraine conflict.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office said yesterday that an inquiry led by a retired chief justice would look into the allegation. Today, the minister responsible for arms control and a spokesman for the foreign ministry said the country did not approve any arms shipments to Russia in December.

“We did not approve (the shipment) of any weapons to Russia … it was not endorsed or approved by us,” said Communications Minister Modli Gungubela, who headed the National Conventional Arms Control Commission (NCACC) when the alleged weapons transfer took place in Russia, on radio station 702.

South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) spokesman Glaison Monyela tweeted that his office would speak to US Ambassador Reuben Brighetti about his comments and that Foreign Affairs Minister Naledi Pandor would speak to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of USA Anthony Blinken later today.

Neither Gungubele nor Monyela said whether or not an unauthorized shipment left South Africa.

Brighetti did not provide evidence of the alleged weapons transfer at a briefing with local reporters yesterday.

“Mysterious” ship

The US Treasury added the Simons Town-docked ship, the Lady R, to its sanctions list last May for alleged weapons shipments along with other Russian-flagged cargo ships.

Opposition figures had then called on the South African government to explain what the “mysterious” ship was doing at the naval base.

“Information shows that over the past two nights there has been unusual activity in the port with cranes on board unloading cargo from the Russian merchant ship onto trucks,” Cobus Marais, who is shadow defense minister for the opposition Democratic Alliance, said in a statement on December 8, 2022.

There were also trucks carrying containers in and out of the naval base, which is common but not at night, said Marais, who added that the trucks were protected by army personnel.

South Africa is one of Russia’s most important allies on a continent divided over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, but says it is neutral in the conflict and has abstained from United Nations resolutions on the war.

Washington has repeatedly warned countries not to supply military hardware to Russia, saying those that do could be denied access to US markets.

During a press conference yesterday, Deputy State Department spokesman Vedant Patel did not repeat the claim that weapons had been loaded onto the ship.

He said Washington had serious concerns about the ship docking at a South African Navy port and had raised those concerns directly with South African officials.

South Africa’s Ministry of Defense said today it would give its side of the story to the investigation.