DA lays criminal charges for government-aided Al-Bashir escape
Note to Editors: The following remarks were made by DA Leader, Mmusi Maimane, outside the Cape Town Central Police Station today. The Leader laid criminal charges against several members of Cabinet, the SAPS, Hawks, the NPA and senior government officials for their unconstitutional actions in allowing warlord, Omar al-Bashir, to flee the country.
Today the Democratic Alliance (DA) lays criminal charges against members of Cabinet, the SAPS, Hawks, the NPA and senior government officials for contravening both the Rome Statute, as well as a High Court Order in aiding and abetting the prohibited escape of warlord Omar Al Bashir from South Africa in June of 2015.
In light of this week’s ruling confirming that the government’s notice of intention to withdraw from the International Criminal Court (ICC) was unconstitutional, irrational and procedurally flawed, the DA believes that those complicit in the escape of Al-Bashir – in contravention of a court order and international law - ought to face the legal consequences.
At the time President Al Bashir landed on South African soil in June 2015, he was being sought by the ICC for war crimes and crimes against humanity, and two separate warrants had been issued for his arrest - on the 4th of March 2009, and on the 12th of July 2010. South Africa, as a participating party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Act 27 of 2002, was obliged to arrest and detain President Al Bashir when he set foot on South African territory.
However, in contravention of the Rome Statute, as well a Court Interdict compelling the government to take all necessary steps to prevent President Al-Bashir from leaving the Republic of South Africa, he was allowed to leave the country on Monday, 15 June 2015, flying from the Waterkloof Air Base.
Following this, Zuma’s government was taken to court for its disregard for the law. In that matter the North Gauteng High Court ruled that Cabinet members and senior government officials “failed to take steps to arrest and/or detain the President of the Republic of Sudan Omar Al Bashir” - as required to do - therefore making their actions “inconsistent with the Constitution” and “invalid”.
The Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) confirmed this by stating that “the conduct of the Respondents in failing to take steps to arrest and detain, for surrender to the International Criminal Court, the President of Sudan, Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir, after his arrival in South Africa on 13 June 2015 to attend the 25th Assembly of the African Union, was inconsistent with South Africa’s obligations in terms of the Rome Statute and section 10 of the Implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Act 27 of 2002”.
It is therefore incumbent upon the DA as a Party that subscribes to constitutional supremacy and the Rule of Law to ensure that members of Cabinet and high ranking state officials - including the head of the NPA, the SAPS and Hawks - are held accountable for their role in breaching the Constitution and undermining the Judiciary. The South African Government in this regard has also failed the people of Sudan.
The focus of the Police’s investigation should include The Ministers of Justice, International Relations and Cooperation, and Home Affairs; Heads of the SAPS, Hawks and NPA; along with a string of Directors-General in the relevant departments. These are men and women who have placed the ANC’s interests and expediency ahead of the law and their obligation to uphold it.
It is disturbing that an elected government in a Constitutional Democracy would behave lawlessly and unaccountably. The government now has a track record of having its decisions overturned in court - for allowing the Police into the House of Parliament, undermining the Public Protector or in this case ignoring the law and a court order so that a wanted war criminal could avoid trial by the International Criminal Court (ICC) - their actions are repeatedly found to be “unconstitutional” and “invalid”.
This is a government which claims in word to “protect human rights”, when, in deed, it only protects human rights abusers. From Castro, to Mugabe, to Al-Bashir, anyone who is a friend of oppression and authoritarian rule is a friend of the ANC.
The hallmark of this ANC government has been the undermining of the Constitution and the law. We cannot allow this to continue. We thus trust the SAPS will see to it that these charges are investigated without delay and forwarded for prosecution.
Statement issued by the DA, 24 February 2017
