Cape Town - Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis and Premier Alan Winde have called on Pretoria to deny entry to a sanctioned Russian billionaire’s yacht that is heading to Cape Town Harbour with the potential of plunging South Africa into diplomatic hot water.
All eyes are on the luxury $500 million (about R9 billion) vessel belonging to oligarch Alexey Mordashov – an iron and steel mining magnate and known ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin – which is due to reach Cape Town in the coming days.
Bloomberg recently reported that Mordashov’s 140m-long, multi-deck super-yacht, Nord, departed for Cape Town from Hong Kong last week.
Pavel Isaev, listed online as Mordashov’s adviser, had not responded to emailed queries at the time of writing.
Mordashov is among a number of Russians sanctioned by the US and EU – but not the UN – for links to Putin after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February this year.
The South African government, which counts Russia as a key partner in the BRICS bloc of nations, has yet to comment on the matter.
President Cyril Ramaphosa and Department of International and Co-operation (Dirco) Minister Naledi Pandor have however previously clarified South Africa’s position: “We are fully cognisant of the deliberate opposition to our call for peace and negotiations and continue to hold the view that, in the end, negotiations will end the conflict.”
Hong Kong’s leader, Chief Executive John Lee, said earlier this month that the city would not act on unilateral sanctions imposed by the US.
“We cannot do anything that has no legal basis,” he said.
On Saturday, mayor Hill-Lewis called on Pretoria to deny entry to the yacht and its owner, tweeting: “South Africa should not be offering sanctuary to sanctioned Russian oligarchs.
“We call on @DIRCO_ZA to uphold international sanctions and deny the yacht entry. Putin’s war accomplices are not welcome in Cape Town.”
Premier Winde said: “Cape Town and the Western Cape cannot become a safe haven for Putin’s oligarchs. They cannot be welcomed here. South Africa must now show some backbone and stand up for the principles in our own Constitution.”
The City of Cape Town has no jurisdiction over ports or international borders, and no role in terms of imposing sanctions, which can only be instituted by national government.
Hill-Lewis and Winde have toed the party line of DA leader John Steenhuisen, who visited Ukraine for a “fact-finding” mission in May and pledged support for the war-torn country. Political analyst André Duvenage said: “This is very problematic for South Africa, which is caught between Russia, on one hand, providing the political ideology of the National Democratic Revolution, support during the time of apartheid and, on the other hand, our economic interests lie with the West.
“This puts South Africa in an extremely difficult position. By accommodating (or denying) the yacht, they either aggravate the relations with one side or the other. It may create a diplomatic crisis for South Africa.”
Several to the Department of International Relations and Co-operation’s head of public diplomacy, Clayson Monyela, went unanswered
Although Dirco spokesperson Lunga Ngqengelele responded to another unrelated story on IOL, he did not respond to Cape Argus queries about the yacht issue.
The office of the Consulate General of Russia said yesterday it was not prepared to comment at this stage.
Meanwhile, the Ukrainian Association of SA (UASA) said they planned to stage a public protest upon the arrival of the yacht.
“Russia presents itself as a more egalitarian society compared to Western democracies, while in practice it’s a society where oligarchs steal the natural resources of people to fund multi-million yachts and multi-billion palaces around Europe.”
UASA called on the SA government to stand with UN principles and international law and to “introduce sanctions that would allow it to seize a Russian-owned super-yacht and to use the funds from sales to support the rebuilding of Ukrainian schools, hospitals, and apartments”.
They called on companies in the city’s port to refuse servicing the yacht.