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IOL News
13 hours ago
- Politics
- IOL News
Our Soil, Their War: How Ukraine, NATO and the DA Hijacked South Africa
Ukrainian military intelligence is reportedly conducting covert operations in South Africa, raising serious questions about the implications for national sovereignty and international relations. Image: IOL / Ron AI Last week I reported that Ukrainian military intelligence operatives are conducting clandestine activities in South Africa. Surveillance. Disruption of Russian linked logistics. Plans to attack Russian naval presence in Cape Town. These actions are carried out by GUR agents, foreign military operatives with protected diplomatic status, made legal under a visa agreement quietly ushered in by Democratic Alliance (DA) Minister Leon Schreiber in late 2024. The story broke through veteran Washington Post columnist David Ignatius. His article was not just a piece of reporting. It functioned as an official communique from the heart of the United States intelligence apparatus. Ignatius has long served as a narrative conduit for the CIA and Pentagon. When he singles out South Africa in an exposé about Ukrainian covert war, the implications are pointed. Yet the reaction from South Africa's leadership has been to bury their heads in the sand. No word from President Cyril Ramaphosa. No inquiry from Parliament. No comment from Minister of State Security Khumbudzo Ntshavheni. No diplomatic protest from Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Ronald Lamola. No explanation from Leon Schreiber, Minister of Home Affairs, a department now compromised by Democratic Alliance control. And so the questions remain. Who authorised the presence of a foreign military intelligence force in South Africa? What role did Ramaphosa play in allowing Ukraine to wage shadow warfare from our territory? Why has the state avoided even a minimal response? The GUR claimed they tracked the Lady R to Simon's Town in 2022 and alleged that arms were being transferred to Russia. They admitted to interfering with a Russian cargo flight and acknowledged that their agents contemplated an attack on the Smolnyy, a Russian naval ship docked in Cape Town. These are acts of hostility against a BRICS partner. They were conducted from within our borders. And they have gone unchallenged by the executive. The silence is coordinated. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Next Stay Close ✕ Ad loading GUR chief Kyrylo Budanov has publicly declared Ukraine's mission to target Russian assets globally. He posed a rhetorical question to Ignatius: 'Why should Africa be an exception?' It wasn't a question. It was a threat veiled in smug certainty, certainty that the West's sphere of influence now includes South Africa. Ignatius's article performs a layered function. To Pretoria: You are being monitored. Your diplomatic alignments are under audit. The so called 'non aligned' position is seen as defiance, and defiance has consequences. To Moscow: Your partners are compromised. Your alliances in Africa are penetrable. Your backchannels can be severed at will. To Kyiv: Celebrate your reach, but stay within boundaries. The failed attempt to strike the Smolnyy is mentioned, but the narrative steers blame away from Washington. The mission was conceived in Kyiv, not coordinated through Langley. Deniability remains intact. Ignatius uses his platform to draw the blueprint for a global dirty war, a campaign of psychological and covert disruption dressed up as proactive defence. The framing legitimises a foreign military's activities in sovereign countries far from the battlefield. Africa is presented as free territory for geopolitical experimentation. Nowhere in his column does Ignatius interrogate the legality of these actions. He valorises GUR strikes in Mali and Central African Republic, including a drone attack that reportedly killed over 130 people. This is terrorism, not liberation. It is framed as righteous because it aligns with United States foreign policy. The Gaze, a Kyiv based media outlet tightly aligned with Ukrainian government messaging, amplified the South African aspects of the Ignatius story almost immediately. Its coverage read like a warning to Pretoria. The timing points to a coordinated narrative campaign, not a random editorial interest in Africa. The deeper objective becomes clear: push South Africa further from BRICS and closer to North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) interests. Discredit its partnerships. Isolate its diplomatic independence. Expose the African National Congress (ANC)'s internal fractures and accelerate its ideological collapse. Mali Has Severed Diplomatic Ties With Ukraine And is Now Set To Ban Ukrainian Goods From Entering The Country. The decision follows allegations of Ukraine's intelligence support to rēbel groups behind several attācks on Malian Troops and Russian Wagner forces. — Africa Archives (@AfricaArchives_) June 17, 2025 Ramaphosa's silence is more than evasion. It may point to collaboration. His grooming by corporate capital in the 1970s positioned him as a long game candidate for imperial management. Phala Phala exposed a man entangled in quiet deals and unaccountable wealth. His presidency survives scandals that would sink others, because he remains useful. And with each silent concession, the idea of an ANC government dies a little more. The visa exemptions that granted Ukrainian agents access to our soil were signed under a Democratic Alliance controlled ministry. They became active under Ramaphosa's watch. There has been no reassessment of that agreement. No attempt to vet or restrict those entering. No safeguards against abuse. If Ukraine uses South African territory to target Russia, Pretoria becomes complicit. Under the United Nations Charter, this constitutes a breach of international peace. The consequences will not only be diplomatic. They will be structural. South Africa will be recast as a proxy zone in NATO's extended theatre. Its voice on global platforms will carry less weight. Its people will pay the price for elite submission. The Black working class has already seen how white capital benefits from chaos. Under a Democratic Alliance led administration, land reform will stall. Redistribution will be erased. Afrocentric education will vanish. Political resistance will be criminalised under new definitions of extremism. What was claimed back after apartheid will be recolonised before decolonisation ever begins. Black political movements—the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), uMkhonto weSizwe Party (MK), African Transformation Movement (ATM), and others—must see this moment clearly. Fragmentation will ensure the fall. A revolutionary coalition must form, rooted in sovereignty and grounded in anti imperialist clarity. Otherwise, we hand our country to NATO's security architecture wrapped in DA branding. South Africa has become a chessboard. The pawns are moving. The king remains silent. The war has arrived quietly. And our government let it in with both hands. Ukrainian military intelligence is reportedly conducting covert operations in South Africa, raising serious questions about the implications for national sovereignty and international relations. Image: IOL
IOL News
13-06-2025
- Politics
- IOL News
Ukrainian Operatives in South Africa: The War Arrives Quietly
Ukrainian military intelligence is conducting covert operations in South Africa, revealing a complex web of international relations and security implications that challenge the nation's sovereignty. Image: IOL / Ron AI On June 6, 2025, veteran Washington Post columnist David Ignatius published a revealing exposé that sent shockwaves through diplomatic and intelligence communities. Citing high-level intelligence sources, Ignatius confirmed what has long been whispered in strategic circles. Ukrainian military intelligence (GUR) has been conducting covert operations in South Africa. These include surveillance, disruption of alleged weapons shipments to Russia, and even consideration of attacks on Russian naval assets in Cape Town. Ignatius is no ordinary columnist. He has deep ties to the United States intelligence establishment. His columns often mirror the thinking of the CIA and are used to signal key geopolitical developments. When Ignatius puts something in print, it carries the weight of the security apparatus behind it. According to the article, GUR operatives tracked the Russian cargo ship Lady R to Simon's Town naval base in December 2022. They claimed the vessel was there to receive South African arms destined for Russia. It was GUR, not U.S. intelligence, that first delivered this claim to the American government. The U.S. ambassador in Pretoria went public months later. The damage to South Africa's international credibility was immediate. The public inquiry later found no evidence of wrongdoing, but the diplomatic blow had already landed. Ignatius goes further. He states that GUR agents also disrupted a weapons transfer involving a Russian cargo plane in 2022. In August 2023, when the Russian training ship Smolnyy docked in Cape Town, some GUR officers reportedly considered launching an attack. The operation was ultimately abandoned, but the plan itself was real. Against this backdrop, the South African Government of National Unity quietly moved to grant visa-free entry to holders of Ukrainian diplomatic, official, and service passports. This was first publicly announced by Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber of the Democratic Alliance on 27 October 2024. The waiver was said to apply only to official travel and still required the President's formal ratification. Nonetheless, by March 2025, the visa exemptions were operational without any press release, public announcement, or parliamentary debate. The GNU, in its current formation, had already been established months before this announcement. It is under this coalition government—led by President Cyril Ramaphosa and supported by DA power brokers—that the visa waiver was implemented. The implications of this move are serious. Ukrainian operatives now have legal access to South African soil under diplomatic protection. There is no indication that they are being vetted, tracked, or restricted in their activities. GUR chief Lt. Gen. Kyrylo Budanov has stated plainly that Ukraine conducts operations anywhere Russian interests exist. In an interview with Ignatius, Budanov explained: 'We've offered a plan aimed at reduction of Russian potential. It encompasses a lot of aspects, like the military industry, critical military targets, their airfields, their command-and-control posts.' Regarding Africa, Budanov was even more explicit. 'We conduct such operations aimed at reducing Russian military potential anywhere where it's possible. Why should Africa be an exception?' Ukraine has already struck Russian-linked positions in Mali and the Central African Republic. In July 2023, a GUR-orchestrated strike reportedly killed 84 Wagner Group fighters and 47 Malian soldiers. This is the same military intelligence now welcomed into South Africa with open diplomatic channels. President Ramaphosa has said nothing about these developments. There has been no statement from the Presidency addressing the security risk. When Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky visited South Africa in early 2025, the visit was accompanied by the usual diplomatic messaging and limited media coverage. Official photos were released, and standard statements of cooperation were made, but there was little substance beyond the choreography. What stood out was what remained unsaid. There was no press conference, no detailed communiqués, and no public articulation of strategic agreements. Beneath the surface of diplomatic protocol, a quiet shift was taking place. The Democratic Alliance, which now holds significant sway in the GNU, has long aligned itself with NATO positions. Its figures have repeatedly voiced support for Ukraine in the ongoing war. Leon Schreiber's announcement of the visa-free arrangement fits into this pattern. The DA has inserted itself into foreign policy at the highest level, without public mandate or parliamentary oversight. There are reasons to believe that Ukrainian operations in South Africa go beyond surveillance. The disruptions to Russian cargo and naval vessels indicate a direct role in undermining South Africa's cooperation with Russia. This serves the interests of the United States and NATO, not the South African public. The goal is to fracture BRICS alignment and weaken Russia's partnerships across the continent. The DA's growing influence over security, immigration, and foreign policy within the GNU allows for decisions that align with Western strategic interests. This is compounded by Ramaphosa's ideological ambiguity and his growing proximity to pro-Western actors. The ANC's historical orientation has been diluted. What remains is a compromised posture and a government incapable of articulating or defending an independent foreign policy. There are also long-standing connections between white right-wing networks in South Africa and Ukraine. After 1994, several individuals linked to the apartheid security state relocated to Eastern Europe. Ukraine's far-right nationalist structures, which absorbed neo-Nazi formations into state security after the 2014 Maidan coup, provided fertile ground for ideological and logistical integration. Many of these actors now travel freely between South Africa and Ukraine, with no public scrutiny or security checks. South Africa's intelligence architecture is fragmented. There has been no formal protest to the Ukrainian ambassador. No inquiry has been launched into the GUR's confirmed activities. The Presidency has not responded to revelations in the Washington Post. The visa agreement has not been revisited. Under the UN Charter, hostile operations by one state against another on foreign soil constitute a breach of international peace and security. South Africa has previously cited this principle to avoid escalation in conflicts like Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of Congo. That logic has not been applied to Ukraine. South Africa now finds itself as an unacknowledged battleground in the West's proxy war with Russia. The infiltration is legalised through visa exemptions. The sabotage is framed as intelligence work. The silence is interpreted as compliance. This is the opening chapter in an ongoing investigation. The next instalment will explore how Ukraine's intelligence war dovetails with American and Israeli regime change strategies aimed at dismantling what remains of the ANC-SACP legacy. South Africa's sovereignty is on the line—and the fight is already under way. * Gillian Schutte is a South African writer, filmmaker, and critical-race scholar known for her radical critiques of neoliberalism, whiteness, and donor-driven media. Her work centres African liberation, social justice, and revolutionary thought. ** The views expressed do not necessarily reflect the views of IOL or Independent Media.
