The ANC and President Cyril Ramaphosa have had their fair share of embarrassing gaffes. But this week’s debacle over a decision on the International Criminal Court takes the cake, not least because it exposes embarrassing incoherence by our leaders on matters of foreign policy.
At the weekend the ANC’s national executive committee discussed SA’s stance on the ICC. This follows an earlier resolution by its national conference for SA to remain a member of the ICC, despite concerns by some in the party that the court showed biases reflecting its global geopolitical preferences and was inconsistent in its prosecution of international crimes.
In line with the conference resolution, last month the party subsequently withdrew a bill from parliament which would have paved the way for its withdrawal from the court. Therefore comments by Ramaphosa and party secretary-general Fikile Mbalula on Tuesday that the ANC had decided to have SA withdraw from the ICC were baffling, considering its parliamentary move just weeks before. In a briefing with his visiting Finland counterpart Sauli Väinämö Niinistö, Ramaphosa said SA would be pulling out of the ICC, suggesting that our government would do yet another about turn on the matter.
Only it wasn’t so. In a statement later on Tuesday, the ANC said it had made an error when communicating its stance on the ICC. Regrettably, it said, the same error had been made by Ramaphosa in his briefing earlier that day. In fact, the ANC’s decision at its NEC meeting was not only to remain a signatory to the Rome statute but it discussed various options to navigate its misgivings about the court. Ramaphosa’s claim to the contrary therefore raises questions about what the president understood to have been the contents of the discussions at the NEC.
How is it possible that the two most powerful leaders of the party misunderstood a hugely important discussion on our foreign policy and instead went on to communicate inaccurate information which carries significant global implications for SA? Importantly, how do we as citizens have confidence that the president, with whom significant constitutional powers rest, actually understands the contents of the decisions taken by the party he leads and the impact they have on our society?
The president must explain how he got this so wrong. This goes to the heart of his credibility in the eyes of the SA public.
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