South Africa refutes US accusation of ‘sinister’ ties with Iran

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office on Thursday rejected repeated US allegations that the government has a sinister relationship with Iran and was working with the Islamic Republic to develop nuclear arms.

“South Africa does not have a sinister relationship with Iran. We do not have a nuclear weapons programme with Iran,” Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told a media briefing.

Magwenya pointed out that the apartheid regime’s nuclear arms capacity was dismantled before the advent of democracy in 1994.

“The dismantling of that programme was verified by the United Nations,” he said. 

“By the time a democratic government took over the leadership of this country in 1994 South Africa had ceased engaging in any form of nuclear capacity development for weapons purposes.”

This remained the case, he said.

“Again, we will reject the assertion that we have a sinister programme with Iran that is aimed at generating some form of nuclear weapons programme or capacity for South Africa.

He said the government challenged anyone who said otherwise to provide evidence to back up their claim.

“In the absence of evidence, we will reject any assertion of any claim.”

US state department spokeswoman Tammy Bruce earlier this week told a media briefing in Washington that South Africa was “reinvigorating its relationship with Iran to develop commercial, military and nuclear arrangements”.

Bruce said this was one of the reasons why the US was reviewing its relationship with South Africa, which reached a new low last week with the expulsion of South Africa’s ambassador to Washington, Ebrahim Rasool.

The White House last month also listed South Africa’s relationship with Iran as one of the factors that informed President Donald Trump’s decision to sign an executive order suspending aid to South Africa, along with the alleged seizure of white-owned land.

Magwenya reiterated that this was a fiction and that the Expropriation Act signed into law by Ramaphosa in late January, and again by Bruce this week, did not enable land grabs.

Instead, he said, it replaced apartheid-era legislation that facilitated the dispossession of the black majority, with a transparent process in which the state can acquire land in the public interest, in rare instances without compensation.

“Where untruthful things are said, we are duty-bound to correct them. With respect to forging a closer relationship and sailing through or navigating through this current bumpy patch,” he added.

“We do not seek a fight with the United States. We will get through this bumpy patch with the United States, that we are quite certain of. It is impossible to imagine a world where South Africa and the US do not have a constructive relationship.”

It was the presidency’s first full media briefing since US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced Rasool’s expulsion in a tweet, and was dominated by the troubled relationship between the two countries.

He said Ramaphosa would not rush to name a successor to Rasool.

“The president is going to take his time in considering his options with regard to this appointment,” he said. 

“It is not a process that the president wants to rush this appointment because we have a very fluid situation. Almost every week there is public communication that we see and that we receive. The prevailing conditions are fluid, they are changing almost every day.”

Magwenya added that Ramaphosa wanted to have some form of engagement with Washington before sending a replacement for Rasool. 

“He wants to carefully apply his mind, against the prevailing conditions, as well as against the opportunities that we see further down the line for an improved relationship with the Trump administration.”

Magwenya added that Ramaphosa would also wait before sending a delegation to Washington to propose a bilateral trade pact with the US. The government has been working on the proposal for a few weeks.

“The timing is not ideal at this stage.”

He confirmed that so as not to further escalate tension with Washington, Ramaphosa would ask the ANC to be cautious about plans to give Rasool a hero’s welcome when he returned to South Africa.

“The president will be engaging the leadership of his party with respect to the expected envisioned conduct during any form of home-coming rally for ambassador Rasool,” he said.

“What we are urging is just some kind of restraint, recognising the kind of prevailing conditions with respect to our diplomatic relationship with the United States. What we would not like to see is further inflaming the situation and creating more difficulties around what is already a challenging situation.”

Similarly, the government has appealed to the Johannesburg metro council to reconsider plans to rename Sandton Drive, the seat of the US consulate general, after Palestinian militant Leila Khalid, who hijacked a TWA passenger flight in 1969.

“We are saying to our colleagues in the City of Joburg: ‘We have a major diplomatic situation that we are managing and that we need to manage. Please support us, cooperate with us in managing this situation. Do engage in any action that will further inflame the situation,’” Magwenya said.

He said it was a logical appeal, given the circumstances. 

“We have no reason to believe the city will not heed our plea in this regard. Everybody who has been observing what is happening, can realise that there is a lot at stake. We all have something to lose here if this relationship breaks down with the US.” 

Breitbart editor Joel Pollak, a vehement critic of the South African government who flagged the remarks about white supremacy that prompted Rasool’s expulsion, has claimed that the US may close the consulate if the street were named after Khalid.

Pollak has been campaigning for nomination as the next US ambassador to Pretoria, a post that has been vacant since the resignation of Reuben Brigety in November last year, a few days after Trump’s election win.

“We wait to see if in fact he gets nominated and we will take things from there,” Magwenya said. 

“But it is a concern that he seeks to represent the United States here. We are not quite sure what his intentions will be because so far he is engaged in a very divisive and very damaging manner towards South Africa.

Rassool was expected to return to Cape Town by the weekend and would brief the president about his three-month stint in Washington, and the events around his expulsion.