Genocide is not unusual

On the face of it, SA’s adventure in The Hague is certainly a master stroke in gaining the moral high ground against the untouchable world superpowers (“Whatever the ruling in The Hague, SA wins and law loses”, January 26).

But as Jonny Steinberg points out, the victim will be the system of law protecting us all against the horrors of genocide perpetrated by rogue leaders. The scary thing is, if I look around the world right now there are more than a few leaders who would resort to genocide if their power base was really threatened.

Not too far to our north, the people of Matabeleland were subjected to genocide in a joint operation between Robert Mugabe and North Korea. Where were these same sanctimonious SA leaders when this happened? And what about the way they violated SA law when they protected Omar al-Bashir from arrest in terms of an International Criminal Court warrant?

There are a number of regimes today that are either committing acts of genocide or would resort to such behaviour at the slightest threat. I would include Iran, Russia, China, Israel, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Venezuela, Belarus, Syria, Ethiopia, Mali and the US — certainly under Donald Trump.

I believe this case was brought at the behest of the world’s biggest rogue, Vladimir Putin, who has spent his whole life in office tearing up and undermining international treaties. We should not be smug as South Africans because I believe the ANC in its current corrupt form would also resort to such tactics if threatened. The way it ignores domestic court orders provides a chilling warning that it would dump the rule of law in a moment and take out anyone who stands in its way.

Richard Bryant

Via BusinessLIVE