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By Staff Writer
South Africa’s government is engulfed in a row about control of the military, following allegations that the top brass might have ignored orders to sideline Iran from controversial naval exercises.
A board of inquiry is due to investigate this week whether Cyril Ramaphosa’s instructions were disregarded or miscommunicated during naval drills off Cape Town last week.
The incident has sparked debate about whether the elected government has a constitutional grip on one of the most well regarded militaries in sub-Saharan Africa.
Three Iranian warships arrived in False Bay earlier this month to join a week of BRICS bloc manoeuvres alongside Russian and Chinese vessels.
The arrival of the vessels, just as the Iranian regime was killing hundreds of protesters in a crackdown on dissent, raised diplomatic alarm in Pretoria.
There was also concern that their presence would further antagonise Donald Trump, who has already cut aid to South Africa, imposed tariffs and sharply criticised its foreign and domestic policy.
South African media reported that, on the eve of the exercises, Pretoria attempted to limit the damage by ordering the Iranians to be downgraded to observers.
However, an Iranian corvette then appeared to take part anyway, and it remains unclear what exact instructions Mr Ramaphosa gave.
Announcing the inquiry, the defence minister, Angie Motshekga, said the president’s instructions had been “clearly communicated to all parties concerned, agreed upon and to be implemented and adhered to as such”.
She said the investigation would “establish whether the instruction of the President may have been misrepresented and/or ignored as issued to all”.
The inquiry is also expected to look at the possibility that the Iranians simply refused to withdraw, or that the exercise leader, China, was not properly informed.
Chris Hattingh, defence spokesman for the Democratic Alliance party, which is in coalition with the ruling African National Congress (ANC), said: “This is not a technical or procedural dispute.
“It goes to the heart of how our democracy works. In South Africa, the military is subordinate to elected civilian leadership.
“If orders from the commander in chief can be sidestepped, diluted, or quietly ignored, then civilian oversight becomes meaningless.”
The incident is also not the first in which South Africa’s Iran policy has exposed differences with the military.
South Africa’s defence chief, Gen Rudzani Maphwanya, was last year reprimanded for making a trip to Tehran and declaring that the two countries stood together “alongside the oppressed and defenceless people of the world”.
The ANC said his remarks did not represent official policy, and Mr Ramaphosa called the visit “ill advised”.
The ANC’s insistence that it is pursuing a non-aligned foreign policy has done little to ease tensions with Washington.
The United States embassy in South Africa said during the exercises that “permitting Iranian military forces to operate in South African waters, or going to Tehran and expressing solidarity, is not non-alignment: it is choosing to stand with a regime that brutally represses its people and engages in terrorism”.
The embassy added: “South Africa cannot lecture the world on justice while cosying up to Iran.”