ICC: DA files papers with ConCourt
24 October 2016
The Democratic Alliance (DA) has today filed its founding affidavit for direct access to the Constitutional Court, in order to challenge the constitutionality of the South African Government’s notice to initiate the process of withdrawing from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The South African Government delivered the notice of withdrawal without consulting with Parliament, the only body that can give the Executive a mandate to withdraw from the ICC given the domestic legislative implications such a decision has.
Withdrawing from the ICC would require Parliament, specifically the National Assembly, to repeal the Implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Act 27 of 2002 (“Implementation Act”), which incorporates the Rome Statute into domestic law.
We therefore argue, in defence of the Constitution and the Rule of Law that: