CHARLES MOLELE
PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa and the African National Congress have issued separate statements to correct the earlier confusion regarding South Africa’s membership in the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Their initial statements suggested that the country was planning to withdraw from the ICC due to concerns over its unfair treatment and bias towards certain countries.
However, Vincent Magwenya, spokesperson for the Presidency, and ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri affirmed that South Africa remains a member of the ICC and will continue to support the fair and consistent application of international law.
This clarification was issued a few hours after Ramaphosa expressed his support for the ANC’s decision to withdraw from the ICC during a state visit of Finnish President Sauli Niinistö on Tuesday.
Earlier, Ramaphosa had said that the ANC had decided to withdraw South Africa from the ICC, which last month issued an arrest warrant against Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The arrest warrant means that Pretoria, which is set to host Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa (BRICS) summit in August, would have to detain Putin on arrival.
However, Magwenya said the Presidency wished to clarify that South Africa remains a signatory to the Rome Statute and will continue to campaign for equal and consistent application of international law.
“This clarification follows an error in a comment made during a media briefing held by the governing African National Congress (ANC) on South Africa’s status with regard to the ICC. Regrettably, the President erroneously affirmed a similar position during a media session today,” said Magwenya.
“South Africa remains a signatory to the ICC in line with a resolution of the 55th National Conference of the ANC – held in December 2022 – to rescind an earlier decision to withdraw from the ICC.”
He said South Africa is working on strengthening global governance institutions and on invigorating the Malabo Protocol to establish a continental criminal court that will work with the ICC.
The Malabo Protocol extends the jurisdiction of the yet-to-be established African Court of Justice and Human Rights (ACJHR) to crimes under international law and transnational crimes. The Court will have jurisdiction to try 14 different crimes, including genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.
Magwenya said South Africa is considering a legislative amendment that would domesticate the Rome statute so that it reflects all the articles of the Rome Statute.
This includes provision of article 98 of the statute that requires a waiver of immunities for persons charged by the ICC from third party countries where there is no referral by the United Nations Security Council, he said.
The ANC, on the other hand, said an “unintended impression may have been created that a categorical decision for an immediate withdrawal had been taken. This is not so.”
The party said that “the withdrawal from the ICC as a measure of last resort would only arise if the options discussed do not garner the desired results of fairness and consistency in the administration of international law”.
The ANC said the executive committee, the party’s highest decision-making body, had discussed the “unequal” and “often selective application of international law by the ICC.”
Earlier on Tuesday, it said the NEC noted its 55th National Conference Resolution that “the ANC and the South African government must rescind the withdrawal from the ICC Court and intensify its lobby for the ratification of the Malabo Protocol”.
ANC Secretary General Fikile Mbalula said the NEC aligned itself with a report of Amnesty International’s Annual Report of 2022 which exposes “double standards” throughout the world on human rights and the failure of the international community to unite around consistently applied human rights and universal values.
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