In the UK, the courts ruled that the government’s decision to trigger Brexit had to be approved first by its parliament. Now, in SA, the courts have ruled that a decision to withdraw from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) must go to Parliament first — the exit cannot just be triggered by a Cabinet minister signing an order. That is a victory for accountability and for the Constitution. But, at this stage, it is no more than a procedural victory. The big issue of whether SA should indeed withdraw from the court remains undecided. And, the danger is still that the government is lining up to appease some fairly dictatorial African leaders by pulling out of an institution, which does no more than impose on us and our neighbours human rights standards we thought we had already imposed on ourselves. The case, which was brought by the DA and others, dates back to the government’s signing of a warrant to withdraw from the ICC in the wake of Sudanese President Omar a...
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