EXCLUSIVE: Brigety stays put

Washington has rejected South Africa’s attempts to lobby for the expulsion of US ambassador Reuben Brigety over the Russian cargo ship Lady R saga. 

In an exclusive interview with the Mail & Guardian, US embassy spokesperson David Feldmann said Washington had given no indication that it was considering the recall of its representative. 

This comes after high-level cabinet members told the media during off-the-record meetings recently that an aggressive push was underway to get Brigety expelled. 

The US envoy unleashed a diplomatic storm and made international headlines in May, sending the dollar plunging against the rand and the euro, when he told a media briefing that South Africa had loaded arms onto the Lady R in December. Pretoria had already riled its Western allies by refusing to take a side in Russia’s war in Ukraine. 

In the days following Brigety’s allegations, which put South Africa’s trading relations with the US in jeopardy, the rand fell about 4.6% to its weakest level against the dollar, stopping just short of breaching the R20 level.

Late last month, a delegation led by Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel travelled to the US to explain South Africa’s non-aligned position on the Russia-Ukraine war and to fight for the country to remain eligible for preferential access to US markets under the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa).

Members of that delegation have expressed optimism about convincing US lawmakers of the benefits — both to the world superpower and to the continent — of South Africa’s continued inclusion in Agoa. 

South Africa is also pushing for the early extension of Agoa in an effort to bring about further investment in the region.

The South African government will have to consider the optics of expelling an African-American ambassador. Brigety has already been publicly rebuked by South Africa via a démarche issued by International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor in May.

The US congressional black caucus, which led the charge to enforce sanctions on the apartheid government, is considered an important ally in South Africa’s efforts to have Agoa renewed. President Cyril Ramaphosa met the caucus in September and called on its members to help ensure trade and investment ties between the US and the continent are not lost.

Feldmann said that Brigety was American President Joe Biden’s “personal representative” in South Africa. 

“The president and the secretary of state retain full confidence in him. Ambassador Brigety remains focused on energetically advancing the relationship,” Feldmann said. 

This is the clearest sign by Washington yet that it intends the ambassador to finish his term in South Africa. 

Feldmann also denied that South Africa had made a call to the US government to have Brigety removed. 

Pressure has been mounting within the ruling ANC for President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government to expel Brigety in the wake of an investigation into the Lady R saga by an independent panel. 

City Press recently reported that the panel, led by retired senior Judge Phineas Mojapelo, had found that South African weapons and ammunition were not loaded onto the Lady R when it called at the naval base in Simon’s Town.

The report said, according to the findings of the investigation, the ship had loaded food and other supplies for its return trip to Russia.  

The primary cargo that the ship brought to Simon’s Town was a long-standing arms order that the SA National Defence Force had placed with Russia before the Covid-19 pandemic, consisting largely of lighter weapons and ammunition. This was finally delivered in December, City Press reported. 

Insiders say the findings of the independent panel were divulged to US acting deputy secretary of state Victoria Nuland during her visit to the country earlier this month. Nuland met Ramaphosa’s security advisor Sydney Mufamadi as well as the director general at the department of international relations and cooperation, Zane Dangor. 

During a sitdown interview with the M&G, Nuland said Ramaphosa’s recent posture on the Russian war on Ukraine carried unique and valuable weight in the Biden administration. 

She suggested that South Africa was proving to be “valuable” to the US. 

“We very much appreciate the seriousness with which the South African government has taken our concerns, the world’s concerns about the Lady R and the fact that a very serious investigation by an independent judge has been launched and lots of testimony has been taken,” she said, adding that the US looked forward to the results of the investigation. 

To show Brigety was acting in line with Washington’s wishes for stronger ties with South Africa, Feldmann said the ambassador had meetings last week with multiple ministers and with a trade delegation from women- and minority-owned businesses. 

Brigety has met individually with senior cabinet members on trade and energy matters. 

Feldmann confirmed that Brigety had held meetings with two of Ramaphosa’s top lieutenants in his cabinet, Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe and Minister of Public Enterprises Pravin Gordhan. The ambassador has also met Ebrahim Patel. 

“Our substantive work to collaborate on our shared priorities continues apace. We appreciate the numerous engagements ambassador Brigety has had with national and provincial governments and political parties, including the ANC, as well as the business community and civil society,” Feldmann said. 

Relations with the West are expected to form part of the discussions when heads of state from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, which form the Brics grouping, meet in Johannesburg next week.

Russian leader Vladimir Putin will not be attending the annual summit in person.