Ramaphosa names panel to investigate Lady R debacle
President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed a panel of three to probe the docking of the Russian vessel Lady R in Simon’s Town in December last year.
In line with his announcement on May 11 that he would establish an independent inquiry headed by a retired judge, Ramaphosa appointed judge Phineas Mathale Deon Mojapelo as chair of the panel. The other members are advocate Leah Gcabashe SC and Enver Surty.
Mojapelo has BProc and LLB degrees from the University of the North (now Limpopo). He was admitted as an attorney of the high court in 1980 and worked as acting and permanent judge of the high court of SA and also served as an acting judge of the Supreme Court of Appeal from December 2019 until March 2020.
Surty, an attorney with an LLM degree in constitutional litigation from the University of the Western Cape, served as deputy basic education minister from 2009 until 2019, meaning he worked in the administrations of Jacob Zuma and Ramaphosa. He served as deputy education minister from 2004 to 2008 under Thabo Mbeki, and briefly was justice & constitutional development minister from September 2008 to May 10 2009.
STATE CAPTURE
Gcabashe, who has a string of degrees including a BA Law from the University of Cambridge and an LLM in human rights and constitutional law from the University of Pretoria, is a member of Thulamela Chambers. She was one of the evidence leaders for the Zondo commission of inquiry into state capture.
“Through this inquiry, government seeks to establish the circumstances that led to the docking of the ship and the alleged loading of cargo, and the departure of the Lady R cargo ship from Simon’s Town, during the period from 6 to 9 December 2022,” presidential spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said in a statement on Sunday.
“The president decided to establish the enquiry because of the seriousness of the allegations, the extent of public interest and the impact of this matter on SA’s international relations.”
Earlier in May, US ambassador Reuben Brigety accused
SA of supplying Russia with weapons and ammunition when the Lady R docked at the Simon’s Town naval base last year. The accusation prompted a fall in the rand, and has strained relations between Pretoria and Washington.
Ramaphosa’s three-member independent panel’s task is to establish who was aware of the cargo ship’s arrival; whether any cargo was loaded or offloaded; and evaluate whether constitutional, legal or other obligations were complied with in relation to the cargo ship’s arrival, its stay and eventual departure.
The panel will report directly to Ramaphosa and be supported by presidency staff assigned to the task. Its investigation is expected to be completed within six weeks and culminate in a report that will be submitted to the president within a fortnight of the investigation being concluded.
“The panel may request an extension of this time frame should it be necessary,” said Magwenya. “The panel’s report will include recommendations on any steps that may need to be taken in [the] light of their findings or as a result of any breaches that may have occurred.”
While it welcomed the president’s “sudden appetite” to get to the bottom of the Lady R matter in the wake of its diplomatic fallout, the DA voiced concern about the expected length of the investigation. It said it wants the investigation to reveal why the government did not heed advance warnings from the US about the vessel before it docked.
“It is worrying that the investigation will last six weeks with an option to apply for extension if necessary,” said the country’s main opposition party. “We need to know what the department of international relations’ role was since the American ambassador said SA was informed on a diplomatic level before the Lady R’s arrival in SA.”
The DA said it plans to keep a close eye on the panel’s work and hold the government accountable until appropriate action is taken to ensure SA’s sovereignty and security. The Lady R’s cargo manifest should be made available and it wants to know who gave permission for the ship to be escorted to Simon’s Town by two navy vessels, as well as who approved the use of the base by AB Logistics and Armscor.