Siyabonga Mkhwanazi
The ANC is mulling the implications of the International Criminal Court’s decision to issue an arrest warrant for Russian President Vladimir Putin, over the "deportation" of Ukrainian children, a few months before the Brics summit in South Africa.
South Africa is set to host the leaders of Brazil, Russia, India and China at the 15th BRICS Summit from August 22 to 24, in Durban.
The government had said it was seeking legal advice on the matter. But the ANC said it has asked its ministers to assess the implications of this decision by the ICC.
South Africa is one of the 123 countries that are signatories to the Rome Statute. Western countries and the ICC said they expected any of the signatories of the Rome Statute to effect an arrest if Putin sets foot in their countries.
ANC national spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri said it was discussing this matter with its members in government.
“The ANC has taken note of the ICC’s decision on Russian President Vladimir Putin and is engaging its deployees in government to gain an in-depth understanding about the implications of this route taken by the court,” said Bhengu-Motsiri.
The SACP had slammed the ICC decision, saying it smacked of bias as the court had not acted against “leaders who invaded Iraq 20 years ago and many other countries”.
The US and the UK had led several countries on a mission to invade Iraq over allegations that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction. But no weapons of mass destruction were found after Saddam Hussein was toppled by the US.
The South African government was heavily criticised in 2015 for failing to arrest Omar al-Bashir, the former president of Sudan, when he attended the African Union summit in the country.
The ICC had also issued an arrest warrant for Al-Bashir for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.
Current Affairs