court blocks government's International Criminal Court withdrawal bid

A high court judge instructed the government to revoke its notice of withdrawal from the court based in The Hague, Netherlands.

South Africa’s main opposition party had gone to court, saying the government's notice was illegal because parliament was not consulted.

“South Africa does not want to be lumped together with pariah states who have no respect for human rights,” the Democratic Alliance said.


“This is a victory for the rule of law and indeed for our country's human rights-based foreign policy which Zuma and his cronies have tried so hard to depart from,” DA spokesman James Selfe said.

“Clearly Zuma and his ANC have absolutely no respect for the constitution.”
“What is so pressing for the national executive about the withdrawal ... which cannot wait for our legislative processes to take their course?” the court's ruling said.

“Government respondents have not provided any explanation for this seemingly urgent need to withdraw from the Rome Statute” that created the tribunal.
Justice Minister Michael Masutha said the government would press ahead with withdrawing from the Hague-based tribunal, noting that the ruling was based largely on procedure – that the decision to pull out did not pass first through parliament.