Mbalula calls out UK over Iraq war

JOHANNESBURG - African National Congress (ANC) Secretary General Fikile Mbalula has called out the hypocrisy of those who are calling on South Africa to arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin, when no leader has been arrested for the Iraq invasion.

The ICC in March issued an arrest warrant for Putin for the war crime of ‘deporting’ Ukrainian children.

South Africa, which is the BRICS chair for 2023, is scheduled to host Brazil, China, India, and Russia at the summit in August.

Arrest

party.

Earlier this month, Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on International Relations and Cooperation Supra Mahumapelo said the presidency had established an inter-ministerial committee to deal with the ICC’s arrest warrant for Putin.

Debate

In a heated debate on BBC’s Hard Talk with Stephen Sackur over the arrest of Putin, Mbalula silenced the host after asking him which leader had been arrested for the Iraq invasion.

The secretary general also reiterated the country’s nonaligned stance on the Russia-Ukraine war.

“If it was according to the ANC, we would want President Putin to be here even tomorrow. We would welcome him here as part and parcel of BRICS, but we know that we are constrained by the ICC, in terms of doing that,” said Mbalula.

“Putin is a head of State, do you think that a head of State can just be arrested anywhere?

“How many crimes have been committed by your country in Iraq? How many crimes have been committed by anyone else who is so vocal today in Iraq and Afghanistan? Have you arrested them? You have not. You are making a lot of noise about Putin instead of working for peace between Ukraine and Russia and you fail to resolve the war.

“Millions of people have died in Iraq and Afghanistan and there are no weapons of mass destruction. We know what the war is about between Russia and Ukraine. We want peace, that’s what is important, so that the world can thrive.”