JOHANNESBURG, May 11 (Reuters) – A sell-off in the South African rand gathered pace on Thursday, as a news report about a ship allegedly carrying weapons and ammunition from South Africa to Russia spooked investors already concerned about the economic impact of crippling power cuts.

The rand touched a low of 19.3250 against the dollar, down as much as 2.4% on the day and hitting its weakest since early April 2020 early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Traders and analysts cited the report for exacerbating the currency’s slide.

Local news website News24 cited the U.S. ambassador to South Africa as saying that Washington was confident that a cargo ship that docked near Cape Town in December loaded weapons and ammunition before the ship went back to Russia.

Asked by an opposition lawmaker in parliament about the News24 report, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the matter was being looked into.

Currency traders and analysts said they were concerned that South Africa could face Western sanctions if it was found to have supplied Russia with weapons while it was waging war in Ukraine.

“If we have helped Russia with weapons, we could face sanctions by most of the West,” said Greg Davies, head of wealth at Cratos Capital.

The yield on South Africa’s benchmark 2030 local government bond ZAR2030= was up 22.5 basis points, reflecting a sharply weaker price.

(Additional reporting by Kopano Gumbi and Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Alexander Winning and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)