Ramaphosa Releases findings of the Russian ship Lady R investigation

Johnathan Paoli

President Cyril Ramaphosa released the executive summary of the findings of an investigative panel into claims that South Africa supplied arms to Russia on Tuesday.

The summary confirmed that a Russian registered cargo ship known as the Lady R docked at Simonstown between 6 and 9 December 2022, which resulted in a public controversy, with several allegations and various demands upon the government.

In light of this, and in the interests of public interest, the President appointed an independent panel of three members to conduct the investigation; relying heavily upon letters by the President, interviewing 47 people, receiving 23 written submissions and containing over 100 documents.

The summary said that a number of other entities and persons that had publicly claimed to have information on this matter, after being invited to make submissions to the panel, either failed to do so or provided no independent knowledge of the