By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
President Cyril Ramaphosa says government was still deliberating over Russian President Vladimir Putin’s visit to South Africa.
Ramaphosa said they have noted the warrant of arrest issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
South Africa came under fire in 2015 when it did not arrest former leader of Sudan Omar al-Bashir who was facing charges of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity by the ICC.
Answering a question from the media, during a State visit by Namibian President Hage Geingob earlier on Thursday, Ramaphosa said South Africa had invited Russian President Vladimir Putin to attend the summit.
It was the first state visit by a Namibian head of state to South Africa since former president Hifikepunye Pohamba’s visit in 2012.
“Why only in South Africa? They are targeting you,” said Geingob jokingly when asked about Russia President Vladimir Putin attending a BRICS summit in South Africa in August.
Geingob believes South Africa is being targeted by Western nations on the issue.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Putin for alleged war crimes in Ukraine.
Government has come under pressure to make public its stance on whether it will execute the arrest warrant.
Putin is due to visit the country for the BRICS summit in August and South Africa is a signatory of the Rome Statute.
“As the chair of BRICS, naturally we issue invitations to all the BRICS members and they will indicate whether they are able to come or not,” said Ramaphosa.
“We have noted what the ICC has said in relation to President Putin and we are still discussing this matter. We are waiting for all the BRICS members to indicate whether they are going to come or not and the matter is still being discussed.”
Ramaphosa also said they were not bitter that South Africa has not been invited to the G7 summit in Japan.
South Africa has over the years been invited to G7 summits and it was left out of the current meeting in Japan.
Ramaphosa meanwhile said Namibia and South Africa will deepen trade and investment ties with a Bi-National Commission (BNC) expected to be held between the countries later this year.
Ramaphosa said progress has already been made in various sectors of mutual interests with new agreements signed in order to “further expand our formal scope of cooperation”.
“Our ministers responsible for trade and industry will convene a Business Forum later this year to be attended by business people from both countries. We also agreed that the ministers of trade of the two countries should put in place a mechanism to protect investments in our respective countries.
“We will work together to leverage the opportunities presented by the African Continental Free Trade Area and the Tripartite Free Trade Area between the Southern African Development Community (SADC), the Common Market for East and Southern Africa (COMESA) and the East African Community,” he said.
Ramaphosa highlighted that the aim of the State Visit was to “discuss, review and strengthen our political, social and economic” relations.
Namibia’s last State Visit to South Africa was held some 10 years ago.
He said during the official talks, the two countries’ delegations discussed “broad areas of cooperation and evaluated progress in the implementation of previous decisions and agreements” between the two Southern African neighbours.
“We have directed that an audit of our legal instruments be conducted prior to the convening of the South Africa-Namibia Bi-National Commission in Windhoek later this year. In view of the length of time between sessions of our Bi-National Commission, we have discussed the need for an Inter-Session Review Mechanism of BNC decisions and commitments.