MANTASHE AND ANC ENDANGER RULE OF LAW IN RSA
23 June 2015
Congress of the People readily accepts that the system of referrals to the ICC is discriminatory. But, is the International Criminal Court “dangerous" as Gwede Mantashe is declaring and should South Africa withdraw from it? To whom is it so dangerous?
Gwede Mantashe is a prospective presidential candidate who could very well succeed Zuma. Will he damage South Africa even more than the present incumbent if he should become president? By his argument, we should not fix an ailing institution but get out of. If the AU continues to fail the people of Africa, will Mantashe demand that we should do the same on the grounds that it too is not “what was envisioned”. For Gwede the ICC “ is a tool in the hands of the powerful to destroy the weak”. Who exactly did the ICC destroy?
When South Africa agreed to domesticate the Rome Statute into our law, it did so out of the confidence that our country will always value human rights values and democracy. Our leaders had no fear at the time of signing that they would ever have to answer charges of genocide, war crimes or mass human rights abuse. Our leaders of the time had moral conviction and the foresight to support an International Criminal Court for the betterment and security of the people of South Africa. We thus gave to ourselves an ironclad guarantee that no leader would ever perpetrate human rights abuses on any group of people in our country.
Todays’ ruling party is no longer sure about that and it is fearful of the ICC. Mantashe, in particular, has a pathological dislike for judicial processes that interrogate political decisions. The ruling party goes along with him in accepting that “there is a drive in sections of the judiciary to create chaos for governance”. It is utterly ridiculous and totally bizarre to imagine that judges can do anything like that. They do not drive anything, least of all any kind of chaos for governance. The ruling party does that.