DA to fight global crimes ‘impunity’

Selfe highlights concerns over bill tabled in parliament

THE International Crimes Bill tabled in parliament last week will not pass through unchallenged‚ the DA warned yesterday.

It said the ANC would not be permitted to absolve itself of its duties to victims of genocide and other human rights violations taking place daily across the continent and the world.

DA federal executive chairman James Selfe said the bill sought to repeal the Implementation of the Rome Statute Act and withdraw South Africa from the International Criminal Court (ICC).

He said that while it seemed that the bill paid lip service to South Africa’s role as a leader in the African context and as a champion of dispute resolution‚ the DA was combing through it and had made the following observations:

ý Having previously attempted to withdraw from the ICC‚ with no alternative for the prosecution of international crimes being presented‚ the ANC was now seeking to confer jurisdiction over these crimes on domestic courts;

ý Jurisdiction was limited to crimes committed in South Africa‚ crimes where the accused or a victim was a South African citizen or resident‚ and crimes where the accused was present in the country after the commission of the crime;

ý For any prosecution contemplated by this bill to even begin‚ a warrant of arrest had to be applied for by the National Prosecuting Authority, or an authorised prosecutor.

This already introduced administrative delays that might allow an accused time to flee the state.

Vesting this discretion in a political appointee‚ such as the national director of public prosecutions‚ at present Shaun Abrahams “who we know to be a lapdog for President [Jacob] Zuma’s cabal of cronies and cadres”, was a recipe for disaster;

ý Administratively‚ a request for arrest issued by the ICC to member states applied immediately on receipt‚ with the effect that subjects may‚ and ought to, be arrested on arrival in the country. This bill failed to achieve that‚ probably deliberately, Selfe said;

ý The ANC maintained the illusion that the decision not to arrest (Sudanese president Omar) al-Bashir‚ a decision found to be unlawful by the high court and Supreme Court of Appeal‚ was a principled one.

They claimed they had ideological differences with the ICC‚ and that on this basis‚ they did not feel obliged to arrest al-Bashir.

However‚ it was abundantly clear that this was false, Selfe said. “In reality‚ the ANC’s decision was a political one‚ intended to protect a brutally authoritarian dictator in the interests of reciprocity and impunity”;

ý The impropriety of the bill’s prosecutorial mechanisms was also present with regards to investigations. While the Rome Statute allowed South Africa to outsource international justice‚ this bill would place the onus to construct and manifest a criminal case squarely within domestic structures. Therefore‚ it would fall to the Hawks to investigate complaints relating to international crimes‚ a duty they were singularly ill-placed to carry out; and

ý The bill seemed to be aware of the shortcomings of a Hawks-driven investigation‚ as it listed factors to be considered when deciding whether or not to investigate‚ but failed to address these shortcomings and left open an enormous loophole for prosecutions to be stillborn at the investigative phase.