Johnathan Paoli
THE DA has welcomed a Gauteng High Court ruling on Tuesday that the government must make public the “confidential affidavit” of President Cyril Ramaphosa in the DA’s Russian President Vladimir Putin arrest warrant matter.
More specifically the court held that the government, in accordance with the Rome Statute, must publicly and transparently argue its case around South Africa’s obligation to arrest Putin, following the issuing of an arrest warrant by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The court held that Ramaphosa has until 14:00 to upload the affidavit onto the court’s digital system and further held that the matter will be heard in an open court on Friday and that media will be allowed access.
Previously, Ramaphosa had argued it was precisely the Rome Statute which prohibited details pertaining to an arrest warrant being shared. In addition, Ramaphosa said the government had “obvious problems” with executing such a warrant including the inconsistency with diplomatic immunity laws, and the potential threat of an open declaration of war.
The DA said these straw man arguments are merely the government’s attempt at frustrating and ultimately undermining South Africa’s obligation to the constitution and international law principle pertaining to the arrest of a war crimes perpetrator.
“It is clear that the South African government is making every attempt to obfuscate and cover up this pivotal matter to avoid public scrutiny, and to mask its inability to stand up to war mongers and despots like Vladimir Putin, as should be expected from any human rights-based foreign policy.” Federal Leader John Steenhuisen said in a statement.
“South Africa fought to be freed from a secretive state that heavily censored its citizens – we will not allow the ANC to re-employ these tactics to keep South Africans in the dark.”
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