If South Africa was behind the supply of weapons to Russia, it was a foolish move, and if not, then the US needs to re-evaluate its intelligence-gathering capabilities, according to defence analyst Helmoed Heitman.
Either way, the consequences are serious for South Africa, Heitman told Sunday World on Friday, adding that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s response was equally disappointing.
“This thing was in December. Given the catastrophic economic implications, if it is true and America takes umbrage, it is something that the president needs to know. If he does not know, he has not been doing his job,” said Heitman.
Reuben Brigety, the US ambassador to South Africa, said on Thursday that he believed South Africa was not non-aligned with Russia, adding that South Africa allegedly sent weapons and ammunition to Russia.
He added that the weapons were transported by a Russian ship that was docked in Simon’s Town in the Western Cape in December.
Heitman said in the past, South Africa used to make some really good military weapons, sometimes even much better than the Russian equipment.
“But at the moment we don’t even make it anymore, because we let the industry languish. In any event, none of our stuff would fit into the Russian system. Our ammunition does not fit their weapons,” he said, noting that he doubts the story.
“I really do not know what we could be selling to them. I don’t think we sold them anything, but I may be wrong. But I just don’t see anything that Russia would want that we make”.
“What they want, they can get from China, which uses similar equipment, so they do not need to come knocking on our door.”
Had it not been for the ambassador saying this, said Heitman, “I would have thought it was some kind of Russian disinformation”.
“But it was the ambassador himself, so I don’t know. Either he knows something that I don’t but quite honestly that would surprise me”.
Heitman added that his friends in Simon’s Town also reported that the ship unloaded some stuff and then loaded it back on.
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