Government still considering Putin’s warrant of arrest, says Ramaphosa

President Cyril Ramaphosa says the government is still applying its mind on how it will handle the International Criminal Court’s warrant of arrest issued against Russian president Vladimir Putin, who is expected to attend the Brics summit in South Africa in August.

“It is a matter that is still under consideration. We are waiting for all the Brics members to indicate whether they are coming,” said Ramaphosa.

The president made the comment during a joint media briefing with his Namibian counterpart Hage Geingob, who was on a state visit to Pretoria on Thursday.

Ramaphosa was asked if the government had finally decided on whether it would arrest Putin, an order of court. International relations minister Naledi Pandor previously confirmed that Putin has been invited to attend the summit.

Ramaphosa said: “As the chair of Brics, naturally we issue invitations to all the members and obviously they will indicate themselves whether they are able to come. We have noted what the ICC has said in relation to President Putin and we ourselves are still discussing the matter.”

Ramaphosa told the media that the question was premature.

“The matter is being discussed,” he said.

This is not the first time the international court has put pressure on South Africa to arrest a head of state.

In 2015 South Africa did not comply with the ICC’s warrant of arrest for Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, despite a local court order compelling the arrest.

Weighing in, Geingob told the audience that he was in a similar situation a long time ago and wondered if South Africa was not being “targeted.”

“I was with the American secretary of state Hillary Clinton and she was so eager, attacking Kenya and saying that I should take these people to the International Criminal Court and I asked her, but how come you are not a member of that court and she said, ‘Our courts can handle it’.

“And I said what about us? And so I don’t support or believe in the International Criminal Court because it doesn’t have independence and we have our own processes, systems and institutions and our courts are independent and so any crime I will commit, I will be tried in Namibia, not in the International Criminal Court.”

Americans are not members of the ICC, he added.

After independence, Geingob said, “We must still go to colonial institutions to be tried by someone else. South Africa must decide whether they are going to invite or not invite Putin. It’s a very difficult situation.

“Why does this only happen in South Africa, the other time we were here it was Omar al-Bashir and now same thing, so they are targeting you?” quipped Geingob with Ramaphosa bursting into laughter.

On the Ukraine, Geingob said instead of de-escalating the situation most Western countries want to escalate the matter.

“We from the outside cannot solve the situation. It is a serious situation and it’s affecting all of us but the UN is there because people must talk and it will be the facilitators who bring them to the conference table.”

TimesLIVE

Support independent journalism by subscribing to the Sunday Times. Just R20 for the first month.

READ MORE