The South African government has announced it is withdrawing its membership of the International Criminal Court (ICC). This is a wise move considering that this international body is ineffective, if not completely useless. The ICC has lost its legitimacy, not only because some of its sitting judges do not even have legal backgrounds, but because it is seen as a tool to purge African leaders and the leaders of other poor countries of the South. Since its inception, we have seen mostly African and former African leaders being taken to court, as if they acted in their personal capacities. Some cases were not even thoroughly investigated — in some instances, witnesses were bribed or even harassed in pursuit of bringing the accused to justice. Leaders and former leaders of countries of the West are exonerated even though they seem to have committed worse crimes than their African counterparts. The likes of Tony Blair, George W Bush and Nicolas Sarkozy are walking free, yet they have comm...
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