JOHANNESBURG – South Africa’s ruling party the ANC has seemingly backtracked on a decision to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) ahead of a planned visit from Vladimir Putin.
President Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC’s Secretary General, Fikile Mbalula, said in statements that the ANC had decided to withdraw South Africa from the ICC – before the party asserted that was not the case.
“It is not so… that a categorical decision for an immediate withdrawal [from the ICC] had been taken,” said an ANC party statement.
The move was labelled an “embarrassing blunder” and “astonishing U-turn” by the main opposition party, the Democratic Alliance (DA). “This diplomatic blunder is indicative of the deep ideological divisions within the ANC now on display in full technicolour detail as the world watches,” said Emma Powell, the Shadow Minister of International Relations and Cooperation.
The issue is being discussed as South Africa is hosting the upcoming BRICS conference in August, which Mr Putin has been invited to. As a signatory to the Rome Statute of the ICC, South Africa would be obligated to carry out the arrest warrant on him if he arrives in the country.
Mr Putin has officially accepted the invitation to the BRICS event, a grouping of the world’s leading emerging market economies, and his team have been making initial security and logistical arrangements for an August visit. Ms Powell urged President Ramaphosa to assure the world Mr Putin would be arrested if he attended the BRICS conference.
Mr Ramaphosa had initially said: “The governing party has taken that decision that it is prudent that South Africa should pull out of the ICC.” He cited the manner in which the ICC dealt with problems, such as Mr Putin’s warrant, and Amnesty International saying there had been unfair treatment in some decisions.
Instead the party now says it may seek to domesticate the Rome Statute, citing the UK as an example of where this has happened. They want to include a provision whereby it can waive immunity to those charged by the ICC if they are not referred by the UN Security Council. This would allow the country to not carry out the arrest warrant on Putin.
South Africa previously tried to withdraw from the Rome Statute of the ICC in 2016 after it did not arrest Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir when he visited the previous year.
The withdrawal was delayed in the country’s High Court and was eventually revoked.
