Defence Minister maintains that Lady R had no weapons on board

[Nat Quinn]

Defence Minister Thandi Modise maintained her position that the Russian cargo ship Lady R had no weapons on board when it docked at the Simon’s Town Naval base in December. She recently provided answers to three written parliamentary questions related to the matter, although the findings of an independent inquiry were already submitted to President Cyril Ramaphosa two weeks ago. Modise’s answer, however, slips around the question of why the ship did not choose a commercial port for mooring instead. She is one of the ministers reprimanded by Parliament for failing to meet the 10-day deadline to answer parliamentary questions in the last term.

Modise’s answers to questions from the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and the Democratic Alliance (DA) regarding the incident with the Lady R claim that an independent investigation will determine the full facts. Yet the findings of this investigation remain unknown. The Presidency has previously indicated that there is a possibility of releasing certain parts of the report to the public. In her reply to the IFP, Modise reiterated that equipment ordered by the South African National Defence Force before the COVID-19 pandemic had been unloaded from the ship. Furthermore, she confirmed that her department and its entities had submitted information to the investigation team. Modise remains steadfast in her public statements that the Russian ship had no weapons on board.

 

source:Defence Minister maintains that Lady R had no weapons on board (afrinuus.com)

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