SA faces another Putin dilemma over ICC warrant

South Africa could once more be facing the Vladimir Putin dilemma – it would have to decide whether it should allow the Russian president to attend the upcoming G20 Summit to be held in the country next year.

This would be the second time Pretoria had to make the difficult decision on whether to let Putin come to its shores.

Putin cancelled Brics summit attendance

During the Brics summit that was held in the country last year, Putin had to cancel his attendance due to pressure put on SA internally and externally to arrest him in terms of an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant.

South Africa, as a signatory to the Rome Statute, is obliged to arrest a head of state indicted by the ICC.

South Africa would assume the chair of the G20 next year taking over from the current chair, Brazil, which would host this year’s summit in November.

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International relations expert Dr Sithembile Mbete said South Africa had a limited choice on the Putin matter.

The government was advised by state law advisors that it was obliged to enforce Putin’s arrest in terms of its domestic law.

Brazil faced same dilemma

She said Brazil, as current G20 chair, faced the same dilemma as SA, as it is an ICC member.

As Brazil was keen to allow Putin to come unrestricted, the country had written to the ICC advocating for heads of state – who were not signatories to international treaties like the Rome Statute – such as Putin to be offered immunity from ICC prosecution.

Mbete said while the South African matter hinged on the outcome of the Brazil’s request, SA was still bound by its own domestic law.

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Also in the 2015 case of former Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir, a high court previously ruled SA should respect the international laws.

This after Pretoria was challenged for letting al-Bashir off the hook after his visit.

“So even if Brazil manages to find some loophole, South Africa would have to ask Putin not to come next year and to do like he did with Brics summit last year. That’s what we have to do in terms of our domestic laws,” Mbete said.

Group of 20

The G20 or Group of 20 is an intergovernmental body comprising 19 countries with the European Union and African Union as organisational members.

SA, Russia, US and other rich countries are members of the body, which deal with global economy and climate change issues, among others.

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Indications were clear that the gathering would not be free from the power competition among the world superpowers.

This week, in a telephone conversation with President Cyril Ramaphosa, US President Joe Biden indicated he would attend the summit and this put pressure on Pretoria as it would have to host Putin and his nemesis, Biden.

Putin voluntarily cancelled his physical attendance, but participated virtually in the Brics summit in August last year.

This made it easy for SA to avoid the pressure of arresting the Russian head of state, as directed by the ICC.

Putin’s prosecution

The Hague-based ICC wanted to prosecute Putin for allegedly transferring children from the war zone in the Russian-Ukrainian conflict.

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But Ramaphosa was criticised by the EFF and other left-leaning groups, demanding that SA should defy the Western-inspired international protocol and let Putin come to the country, while the pro-West DA insisted Putin should barred and threatened to arrest him themselves.