News24.com | There is a 'false impression' that SA has adopted an anti-US stance, says Ntshavheni

Khumbudzo Ntshavheni. Photo: GCIS

• Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni says there is a "false impression" that South Africa has taken an anti-US stance.
• Delivering the state security budget vote speech, she said South African and US intelligence agencies cooperate, and that the US is SA's biggest trading partner.
• She said South Africa would not be "taking sides" over Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni has sought to restore the country's relations with the US as the fallout from last week's bombshell allegations by US ambassador Reuben Brigety that South Africa supplied arms to Russia.

Delivering the State Security budget to a mini-plenary of the National Assembly on Friday morning, Ntshavheni said: "There is a false impression that is created that this government has adopted an anti-USA posture."

She said South African intelligence structures had cooperation agreements with the US in areas of intelligence sharing, training, cybersecurity, and counter-terrorism, among others.

"As recent as March 2023, a high-level delegation, represented at the highest level, was in the USA, and this was a follow up to the visit by the US counterparts in November 2022," she said.

"We must also assure South Africans that genuine intelligence from South Africa or the USA in each other's territories is shared through proper channels and at all material times. South Africans must remember that the US remains South Africa's largest trading partner, and we value that relationship highly."

While there clearly was a realignment in international politics, Ntshavheni said South Africa would position itself in these global shifts so that it "remains ahead of the curve".

She said:

"South Africa will continue to support the efforts to end the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and as a country and global player, we believe that such a conflict should be ended through peaceful negotiations and engagement, and not through South Africa taking sides."

What Ntshavheni considers a "false impression" that South Africa has taken an anti-US posture might have been created by the governing ANC's resolution that Russia's invasion of Ukraine "is primarily a conflict between the US and US-led NATO and Russia in pursuit of the objectives of the so-called Wolfowitz doctrine".

"According to this doctrine, the US should not allow any country in the world, in the post-Cold War period, to challenge US interests, especially its hegemony," the resolution reads.

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"According to this doctrine, the US should not allow any country in the world, in the post-Cold War period, to challenge US interests, especially its hegemony.

"In this regard, US geopolitical strategy has identified Russia and China as the two powers that must be contained, according to the Wolfowitz doctrine, which undergirds US foreign policy."

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Brigety had raised concerns about this when, last Thursday, he accused South Africa of supplying Russia with ammunition when the Russian ship Lady R mysteriously docked at the Simon’s Town Naval Base. Brigety said he would bet his life "on the accuracy of that assertion".

Government and the ANC expressed their displeasure with Brigety's remarks. He was subsequently démarched and had "cordial" meetings with International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor, and ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula.

The government said a retired judge would be appointed to investigate the allegations.