As the South African government lets out a sigh of relief at Russian President Vladmir Putin’s decision to skip next month’s Brics summit in South Africa, we need to swallow the bitter pill that we remain mere puppets in a war way bigger than ourselves.
After months of speculation on how SA would react to Putin's attendance of the conference, amid the International Criminal Court's (ICC) warrant for his arrest, several alternatives were discussed. These included a virtual attendance or for China — which does not subscribe to the ICC — to become the host. All this, just so that South Africa would not find itself in a compromising position.
After lengthy talks between the two heads of states, including a visit by President Cyril Ramaphosa to Russia, it was announced on Wednesday that a mutual agreement had been reached. The Russian Federation will instead be represented by its foreign minister, Sergei Lavrov, who will attend the summit in person.
Arresting Putin would have been a declaration of war which South Africa stood no chance of winning — even Ramaphosa said so in his court papers made public this week. Also simultaneously, not arresting Putin would have been interpreted as our country showing disregard, not just for the legal prescripts of the ICC treaty we subscribe to but also our own constitution and laws.
This would have also placed us at risk of alienating Ukraine’s allies, such as the US, whose economic support we need, specifically the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa), a trade agreement that enhances market access to the US for sub-Saharan African countries.
South Africa’s refusal to take sides in the war can and should continue to be debated but today was a win for our country.
Our opposition parties were unnecessarily critical about the news though, referring back to South Africa’s position of non-alignment. The EFF said Putin’s withdrawal was a consequence of our government’s reluctance to be firm on international relations and “their inability to resist pressure from Nato”.
South Africa’s refusal to take sides in the war can and should continue to be debated, but today was a win for our country. It took serious diplomatic skill and strategy to achieve this outcome, a much-needed solution to a very complicated matter.
Former public protector Thuli Madonsela congratulated Ramaphosa, saying: “This follows Mandela’s example on deference to the law, despite misgivings. South Africa has many faults, but being a rogue state is not one of them. The rule of law has always been one of our strongest links.”
There are many lessons to be learnt from this.
Once the Brics conference is over, South Africa needs to look at its position within the ICC. We have gone through the pressures of application of the Rome Statute one too many times — first with our failure to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir in 2017 and now with Putin’s arrest.
We need to find a way to remove ourselves from these geopolitical spats — just like China and the US have done.
With that said, renewed efforts should be pumped into the process of seeking a peaceful resolution to the war between Russia and Ukraine. At the end of the day, diplomatic spats aside, achieving peace is all that should matter.
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