President Cyril Ramaphosa is still engaging with Brics countries as he contemplates the arrest of Russian President Vladimir Putin should he set foot in South Africa for the Brics Summit in August in line with the warrant of arrest issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC).
This was confirmed by Presidency spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya during a media briefing at the Union Buildings in Pretoria on Wednesday.
Pressure is mounting from the United States and the European Union for South Africa to arrest Putin when he steps on these shores for the summit after the ICC warrant for his arrest allegedly for war crimes.
South Africa is obliged in terms of the Roman Statute of the ICC to which it is a signatory to effect the arrest if the Russian President should visit the country.
However, South Africa says it is still engaging the Brics countries regarding the issue and it will make an announcement soon.
“The president has met with President Putin and they have had a discussion on the upcoming Brics summit. The President is now engaging or in a process of engaging his Brics counterparts. As you know, this summit belongs to all the members of the Brics. It doesn’t belong to South Africa only. South Africa just has the responsibility to host and chair the summit,” said Magwenya.
“Once the President has concluded his rounds of consultations with his Brics counterparts he will then direct us as to when we can make an announcement,” he added
South Africa has maintained a neutral stance on the ongoing Russia and Ukraine conflict calling for negotiations in a bid to end the war.
Last week, an African delegation went on a peace mission to Ukraine and Russia to discuss a possible ceasefire. The countries that participated are from Zambia, the Republic of Congo, Egypt, Senegal and Uganda.
However, while the delegates proceeded with the peace mission a group of South African journalists and Presidential Security Services were stuck in Warsaw, Poland because they allegedly failed to produce permits for equipment that was on the plane.
However, the Presidency said it got assurance from Saps that they had all necessary permits for the equipment that was on the airplane.
“My understanding of that incident is that passengers on the plane and on the flight were not allowed to disembark in Warsaw and they were kept on that aircraft for a significant chunk of hours.
“I am not certain I will use the word detained. Be that as it may, what we understand from Saps with respect to the Presidential Protection Services is that all the necessary permits were complete.
“All the necessary permits were provided by the Polish authorities. A lot of the security equipment was not destined for Poland. It was destined for Kyiv as well as St Petersburg to a limited extent.
“That is as far as I can go to comment on the matter without venturing into the security space. I am not qualified to venture into. But the guarantee we have from our colleagues at Saps is that all the necessary documentation was completed and all the necessary permits were secured for the security equipment that was on board on the flight,” said Magwenya.
The Presidency said there is a process to review what transpired in Poland during the trip.
