President Cyril Ramaphosa has changed tune in relation to South Africa pulling out of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
In a statement released on Tuesday night, the office of the President says South Africa is not pulling out of the ICC.
This comes after Ramaphosa said yesterday that South Africa will be pulling out of the International Criminal Court. He was speaking to the media during a briefing at the Union Buildings in Pretoria where he hosted his Finnish counterpart Sauli Väinämö Niinistö.
Ramaphosa said this issue was prompted by the recent announcement that a warrant of arrest was issued against Russian President Vladimir Putin who is expected to attend the BRICS summit in South Africa in August.
Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya explains in the audio file below:
At a media briefing yesterday, ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula said the ANC’s National Executive Committee had resolved to press ahead with withdrawing South Africa from the ICC.
The ANC then late last night issued a statement clarifying its position on the ICC.
Analysis
Meanwhile, legal expert Dr Llewellyn Curlewis says there is not enough time for the African National Congress (ANC) government to effectively withdraw from the International Criminal Court before the BRICS summit in August.
Curlewis elaborates: “There’s a parliamentary process that must be followed, and even if the ANC is successful in convincing the majority that SA should withdraw from the Rome convention, then the process actually starts. I cannot see with the best of endeavours by the ANC government at this stage that they will be able to finalise all these things before August when this BRICS symposium is supposed to take place.”
“And I do foresee … because there’s already some other institutions that is considering taking legal action against government if they try to do exactly what they intend to do. So it’s going to take time.”
The audio below is the full interview with Legal expert Dr Llewellyn Curlewis:
