INTER-MINISTERIAL TASK TEAM TO ANNOUNCE ITS POSITION ON PUTIN VISIT SOON - MASHATILE

JOHANNESBURG - Deputy President Paul Mashatile will meet a BRICS technical team in Pretoria soon as he prepares to convene a meeting with the inter-ministerial task team looking into Russian President Vladimir Putin's possible visit in August.

Mashatile made the announcement at an impromptu media briefing at the Ntshongweni Catalytic Project site, a smart city being constructed between Durban and Pietermaritzburg, where he told reporters that the technical team had met on Wednesday night.

President Cyril Ramaphosa set up an inter-ministerial task team, chaired by Mashatile, to address the legal modalities of Putin's landing for the summit after the International Criminal Court recently issued a warrant of arrest against the Russian leader for his alleged complicity in war crimes committed in the Russia-Ukraine war. The Guardian reported on Thursday that this month alone, 449 days since the war started, the Russia raids have targeted Kyiv nine times.

The Mashatile-led inter-ministerial task team will be thrust into sharp focus after the recent fallout from US ambassador Reuben Brigety comments in which he accused South Africa of selling ammunition to aid Russia's war in Ukraine.

Mashatile was asked for the timelines in relation to when he would hand over the report to the Cabinet, in light of the fact that the summit takes place in August.

"The inter-ministerial committee (ministers) are probably going to be meeting in the course of next week to look into (related issues). The technical team will meet me when I get back to Pretoria.

Then the incoming inter-ministerial committee constituting of ministers will meet to deal with how we're going to manage those issues around BRICS and then we will make our position public once we are done," Mashatile said.

Meanwhile, the Department of International Relations and Cooperation director-general Zane Dangor briefed the Portfolio Committee on International Relations about Mashatile's inter-ministerial committee.

Dangor, on Wednesday, told MPs that Mashatile's committee "reaffirmed" the country's membership of the ICC.