By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa says any attempt to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin when he visits South Africa would be a declaration of war against Russia.
Ramaphosa made the warning with weeks to go before BRICS Summit that will take place in Johannesburg, to which the Russian president is invited.
South Africa is due to host a summit of the BRICS club of nations — Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa — next month, which all of the heads of states of those countries are scheduled to attend.
Democratic Alliance (DA) launched an application requesting a declaratory order that if Putin arrives in South Africa to attend the BRICS summit in August, the government must immediately detain and surrender him to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The ICC issued a warrant of arrest against him for war crimes allegedly committed during his country’s invasion of Ukraine.
Ramaphosa filed a confidential affidavit in response to the DA’s application, arguing that the confidentiality was in line with the ICC laws prohibiting sharing of certain information.
On Monday, the DA approached the court again to compel Ramaphosa to share his documents publicly and transparently.
Deputy Judge President Judge Roland Sutherland ruled in favour of the DA, ordering Ramaphosa to make the documents public by 2 pm on Tuesday.
Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said the president was never opposed to making the affidavits public.
“It was only in compliance with the ICC directive that the Presidency sought to maintain confidentiality on the affidavit.”
Ramaphosa said, that the DA’s demand for the government to arrest Putin was “incompetent” because “the government of South Africa is not cited as a party to the application, and no relief can therefore be granted against it”.
But DA leader John Steenhuisen disagreed, saying it’s clear that the government is making every attempt to obfuscate and cover up the case.
“Given the farcical nature of Ramaphosa’s responding affidavit, it is little wonder that he did not want it to see the light of day.
“Deploying flimsy arguments which allege that the Russian Federation would declare war on South Africa should we arrest Vladimir Putin, are little more than strawman arguments when the constitutional principle and both domestic and international law make the merits of this case crystal clear.
“What is comical about the president’s affidavit is his claim that refusing to arrest Vladimir Putin would disregard the sovereignty of the Russian Federation when the South African government, in its support for Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, showed very little concern for the sovereignty of the Ukrainian State,” said Steenhuisen.
South Africa has recently seen its ties with the West come under severe strain, with it believed that South Africa’s government, particularly the African National Congress (ANC), is favouring Russia, despite the country’s stated “non-aligned” stance.
These tensions came to a head when the US ambassador to South Africa, Reuben Briggerty, accused South Africa of supplying arms to Russia in an explosive statement earlier this year.
Despite tensions easing somewhat since then, there are still growing concerns that South Africa could now be kicked out of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA), which brings in billions to both the automotive and agricultural sectors.
The government has been headstrong that it will not pick a side and remain non-aligned, despite the growing threat of Western retaliation.
Deputy President Paul Mashatile said he is confident that an African-leader initiative to end the war in Ukraine will succeed.
Mashatile said that Rampahosa is in direct talks with Putin over the issue of the ICC arrest warrant.
“We want to show him (Putin) the challenges that we face because we are part of the Rome Statute, and we can’t wiggle out of this,” Mashatile said.
However, it still remains unclear if Putin will attend the summit or not, with it reported that Ramaphosa was able to convince the Russian leader not to attend and an attempted coup lessening Putin’s appetite to leave his country.
Should he attend, the government will have to decide if it breaks international law or declares war.
Justice minister Ronald Lamola on Monday told a U.N. event commemorating 25 years of the court that “the ICC must … guard against becoming an instrument of global power struggles”.
Correspondents say the reasons range depending on the nation – be it South Africa’s anti-apartheid ties to the Soviet Union, or Mali’s present-day reliance on Russian Wagner mercenaries to fight jihadists.
There are economic ties between Russia and African nations too, not least in South Africa.
A sanctioned Russian oligarch, Viktor Vekselberg, is said to be one of the biggest donors to South Africa’s governing party – the African National Congress (ANC).