ANC opts for SA to pull out of ICC over ‘unfair treatment’, says Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa has confirmed the ANC has decided again that SA must withdraw as a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC).  

The party “has taken the decision that it is prudent that SA should pull out of the ICC largely because of the manner in which the ICC has been seen to be dealing with these types of problems”, Ramaphosa said, referring to issues the court deals with.

The decision was taken during the party’s national executive committee (NEC) meeting at the weekend. 

This is not the first time the ruling party has taken such a decision. In 2015, the party asked the government to pull out of the ICC after a local court found the government had failed in its responsibility to international justice by not arresting suspected war criminal and former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir when he was in SA.

The DA took the matter to court, and the decision was rescinded in 2017 after the high court ruled that SA’s decision to withdraw from the ICC was  “unconstitutional and invalid”. 

Briefing the media after a state visit by Finnish President Sauli Väinämö Niinistö at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Tuesday, Ramaphosa said comments made by Amnesty International expressed what many people believed was “unfair treatment”. 

“Our view is that we would like this matter of unfair treatment to be properly discussed, but in the meantime the governing party has decided again that there should be a pullout so that will be a matter that will be taken forward.”  

The ICC’s decision in March to issue a warrant of arrest for Russian President Vladimir Putin when he attends the Brics summit in SA in August may have pushed the ANC to make the decision.

The ICC issued the warrant on the grounds of him committing war crimes, including against children. As a member of the ICC, SA is obliged to act on the warrant if Putin sets foot on SA soil. The government has sought legal advice on the issue.  

ANC NEC member and deputy public enterprises minister Obed Bapela told the Sunday Times this month that the party’s position on Putin was that no sitting head of state would be arrested while in the country.  

Anil Sooklal, ambassador at large for Asia and Brics and SA’s Brics sherpa (emissary), confirmed to TimesLIVE last week that Putin will attend the summit, set to take place from August 22 to 24 at the Sandton Convention Centre. 

The government is weighing its options on the ICC’s decision, but it is highly unlikely that SA will arrest the leader of one of its allies.

This is not the first time the ICC has put pressure on SA to arrest a head of state. In 2015, SA did not comply with the ICC’s warrant of arrest for Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir despite a local court order that he should be arrested.

Story updated to add more context

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