Arms-to-Russia accusation sends South Africa rand to record low

The South African rand fell to a record low against the US dollar on Friday after the US accused President Cyril Ramaphosa’s government of covertly supplying arms to Russia, imperilling trade ties with South Africa’s second-largest trading partner.

The rand breached 19.35 against the US dollar in early trading, past its previous low at the start of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, a day after the US ambassador to South Africa claimed that Pretoria loaded weapons and ammunition on to a Russian ship under US sanctions in Cape Town last year.