U.S.–South Africa Spat Deepens as Pretoria Demands Ambassador Apologize

S outh Africa’s foreign ministry has called on the U.S. ambassador to the country to apologize, alleging that he lied when he previously claimed that the South African military had transferred weapons to a Russian ship last year. Reports indicate that South Africa might even seek the expulsion of the ambassador, Reuben Brigety.

An investigative panel appointed by South Africa’s president reportedly delivered its findings last week, with the investigation determining Brigety’s claim that South Africa supplied Russia with weapons via the Lady R, a Russian vessel under U.S. sanctions, to be false, according to the South African press.

“Those who claimed to have evidence to the contrary should now come forward and apologise. This allegation caused serious damage to our economy and reputation. Relations with strategic partners were strained based on a lie,” wrote Clayson Monyela, the spokesman for South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Coordination.

Monyela quietly deleted his tweet, and both countries seem eager to sweep this spat under the rug. But the controversy highlights the growing split between Washington and Pretoria over the latter’s increasing alignment with Moscow, and leaves a number of unanswered questions in its wake.

One of these questions is whether the U.S. government stands behind Brigety and his claims amid increasing attacks. So far, the State Department has declined to do so publicly. It has not addressed Brigety’s allegations in public, though anonymous Biden administration officials have trashed the ambassador, telling Politico that he overstated U.S. intelligence. In May, Senator Jim Risch accused State of not having Brigety’s back.

The State Department provided National Review with an extensive statement saying that the U.S. would continue discussions with South Africa through “diplomatic channels,” but declined to address the attacks on Brigety. In the months following Brigety’s allegations, U.S. and South African officials — including acting deputy secretary of state Victoria Nuland — have shuttled back and forth across the Atlantic in attempts to mitigate the fallout. But those efforts have come while some U.S. lawmakers have floated the possibility of stripping the trade privileges granted to South Africa under the African Growth and Opportunity Act, and as other sources report that South Africa’s government might take the delivery of the investigative report as a pretext to expel the ambassador.

The State Department’s reluctance to back Brigety shows that it is keeping its public distance from the ambassador, who is toxic in South African political circles.

“The [lack of] response leaves the door open to the ambassador being tried in the court of public opinion absent any concrete evidence that he did in fact mischaracterize the intelligence assessments that were presented to him,” said Michael Walsh, a visiting researcher at the Georgetown School of Foreign Service.

State did address reports about the investigation’s conclusion. “We appreciate the seriousness with which the panel of inquiry undertook to investigate irregularities surrounding the Lady R’s presence in South Africa in December 2022. We have been in direct communication with the South African government on this matter and will continue these conversations via diplomatic channels,” a spokesperson told National Review.

South Africa describes its foreign policy as “non-aligned,” but it recently participated in military exercises with Russia and China, and has grown closer to the two U.S. adversaries of late. The Brigety controversy has major implications for America’s ability to compete with the Kremlin and Beijing, given the questions it raises about the accuracy of American intelligence. Walsh noted that it’s still not clear whether Brigety’s claims were an accurate statement of U.S. intelligence, whether the intelligence itself was accurate, or who within the U.S. government, if anyone, instructed Brigety to address the matter publicly.

“We need to know whether the intelligence community got this right,” he said.