SA withdrawal from ICC disturbing

Mmegi Editor | Thursday October 27, 2016 11:57

For the first time, the country went to elections in 1994 to vote for their preferred government, bringing in the first black President Nelson Mandela who had spent 27 years in prison for fighting the Apartheid government.

South Africa’s decision to withdraw from the ICC has left many people surprised, especially those who place the country as SADC’s regional power. The surprise has not spared us either. We still cannot believe that the country that was once a dream for many has relegated to the league of countries like Gambia, Burundi and Uganda amongst others.

South Africa should be leading peace missions in the SADC region and beyond, and making sure that dictators and murderers are brought to justice. Tranquillity should be restored in troubled countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Central African Republic, some countries in the Great Lakes region, and South Africa should play a big role. It is unfortunate that the country led by Africa’s oldest struggle movement, the African National Congress, has taken a different direction in favour of impunity of war criminals, dictators and perpetrators of crimes against humanity.

The African Union (AU), which accuses the ICC of being a colonialist, to this day still has not established a tribunal to accord justice to victims of the aforementioned crimes often committed by people in power. The AU has not spoken a word against Yuweri Museveni’s harassment of his opponents in Uganda, nor has it condemned Pierre Nkurunziza’s bid for third term against his country’s constitution.

The SADC region is struggling to resolve Lesotho’s political crisis where the assassination of an army commander last year exposed the depth of the country’s problems. The structures of conflict resolution do not recognise the importance and urgency of establishing a regional tribunal with powers to subpoena, issue a warrant of arrest against any suspect in any of its members. These can all be possible if the regional economic powerhouse South Africa is providing leadership, but that is not the case. Of course, there is this funny thing called sovereignty of a state or country, and we cannot dispute the importance of that principle. 

However, it should be noted that countries are made up people, and are led by people who may make errors in their judgments, especially in Africa where we have a serious problem of strong men instead strong institutions. South Africa should have stayed in the ICC, argued against unfair sections of the Rome Statute and provided leadership in the region.

Today’s thought

'A good leader can engage in a debate frankly and thoroughly, knowing that at the end he and the other side must be closer, and thus emerge stronger. You don’t have that idea when you are arrogant, superficial, and uninformed.' 

– Nelson Mandela