SOUTH African Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said in an interview on Sunday that the country has resolved its dispute with the US over allegations that Pretoria supplied weapons to Russia. Godongwana added that South Africa is unlikely to face any repercussions from the US.
‘A number of actions were taken in order to ensure that our relationship with the US remains and that relationship should be normal and cordial,’ Godongwana said in the interview with Bloomberg News in Cape Town. ‘The Americans are not likely to respond with any anger tomorrow.’
Last week, US Ambassador to South Africa Reuben Brigety said that he was confident that a Russian ship had picked up weapons in South Africa in December, in a possible breach of Pretoria’s declared neutrality in the Ukraine conflict. South Africa’s government denied the claims, and after a meeting between Brigety and South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor on Friday, the ambassador ‘admitted that he crossed the line and apologized unreservedly,’ a South African government statement said.
The US State Department referred to a tweet by Brigety on Friday that said he had corrected ‘any misimpressions left by my public remarks.’
