Cape Town – President Cyril Ramaphosa reportedly held talks with Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the weekend.
“I spoke about the Peace Formula, about justice, and about the fact that our world should be united by the rules of international law,” Zelenskyy said.
“Anyone who helps the aggressor with weapons will be an accomplice, with all the consequences,” The New Voice of Ukraine quoted Zelenskyy as saying.
He said he called on Ramaphosa “to join together with other countries of the world, all continents, and Africa in joint work to implement our peace formula”, Bloomberg News reported.
This came after US ambassador to South Africa Reuben Brigety accused South Africa of aiding Russia’s war effort in the year-long conflict with Ukraine.
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Brigety, on Thursday last week, claimed that South Africa covertly provided arms to Russia, a charge that drew an angry rebuke from Pretoria.
He told a media briefing the US believed weapons and ammunition had been laden onto a Russian freighter, the Lady R, which docked at a Cape Town naval base in December.
“We are confident that weapons were loaded onto that vessel and I would bet my life on the accuracy of that assertion,” Brigety said, according to a video of the remarks.
“The arming of Russia by South Africa … is fundamentally unacceptable.”
But South Africa slammed the charge, with Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya saying: “The ambassador’s remarks undermine the spirit of cooperation and partnership [between the two countries]”.
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
