President Cyril Ramaphosa has told the High Court in Gauteng that arresting Russian President Vladamir Putin, if he travels to South Africa for the BRICS summit in August, would be a declaration of war against Russia. | khayakoko88
However, the court ruled on Tuesday that Ramaphosa and his government's response to the DA's legal attempt to force the government to arrest Putin should be made public.
In the affidavit, which has since been made public, Ramaphosa said he did not want to risk waging war with Russia. "It would be inconsistent with our Constitution to risk engaging in war with Russia. I have constitutional obligations to protect the national sovereignty, peace and security of the republic, and to respect, protect, promote and fulfil the rights of the people of the republic to life, safety and security, among other rights in the Bill of Rights," he said.
The High Court order came in response to the DA's application that the government must"take all necessary steps to arrest and detain President Putin for surrender to the ICC" should he arrive for the BRICS summit, expected to run from 22 to 24 August in Johannesburg. The DA has cited government ministries such as justice, police, international relations and cooperation, as well as the national police commissioner.
She added that Ramaphosa, in his papers, had not claimed that Putin was entitled to immunity from arrest and surrender to the ICC, either internationally or domestically. The High Court further ordered that advocacy organisation Media Monitoring Africa be admitted as a"friend of the court", meaning it can participate in the DA's application. The organisation argued in favour of public access to Ramaphosa's affidavit.
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