DA welcomes withdrawal of the Rome Statute Repeal Bill

14 March 2017

The Democratic Alliance (DA) welcomes the decision today by Cabinet to withdraw the Implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Bill [B 23 – 2016].

The DA believes that in light of the recent High Court decision, and now the decision of Cabinet to withdraw this Bill, that we should all take the opportunity to step back and properly assess the situation.

It may well be that the International Criminal Court (ICC) requires reform and South Africa should actively engage in discussions around such reform.

However this does not mean that South Africa should join the polecats of world in abandoning our commitment to human rights by leaving the ICC entirely.

In recent years, numerous decisions by our ANC-led national government have made clear and dangerous departures from the human-rights based foreign policy which was promoted by Nelson Mandela and which aligns with our Constitutional democracy.

The original decision was made by the ANC in haste and we are glad that sanity has now prevailed.

Issued by James Selfe, Federal Executive Chairperson, 14 March 2017