Pretoria had notified the United Nations of its intention to withdraw from the Rome Statute—the treaty that established the ICC—in 2016, arguing that membership in the court was incompatible with South Africa’s efforts to broker peace in Africa. The following year, however, a South African court ruled that the government’s decision to withdraw from the ICC without parliamentary approval was unconstitutional. In 2019, a motion was tabled in the legislature to withdraw from the Rome Statute. For its part, the ANC issued a statement that acknowledged that party leaders had discussed withdrawing from the ICC as a measure of last resort, but also referred to last year’s decision to rescind the earlier effort to pull out of the court. The party’s statement also referred to “options to amend national legislation to domesticate the Rome Statue.”

Source: The North Africa Journal April 28, 2023 19:13 UTC