By: Natasha Archary

President Cyril Ramaphosa has made his stance with regards to Russia’s President clear, and is against Putin being arrested if he steps foot on South African soil for the BRICS Summit in August.
This after Ramaphosa was ordered by the Gauteng High Court to make public his “confidential” affidavit regarding Putin’s arrest.
Ramaphosa was ordered to declare the document to the public by 14h00 on Tuesday, 18 July, after previously citing he was bound not to do so due to international law.
According to the Presidency of SA, Ramaphosa was only opposed to making the affidavit public due to compliance with the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Point of View with Phemelo Motene spoke to Build One South Africa Leader Mmusi Maimane who shared his views on the affidavit being made public.
Listen to the full conversation here:
In his affidavit, Ramaphosa declared that should South Africa move to arrest Putin, it would be a declaration of war against Russia.
“Further, while I am preluded from disclosing the content of South Africa’s consultation proceedings with the ICC under article 97, I must highlight, for the sake of transparency, that South Africa has obvious problems with executing a request to arrest and surrender President Putin.
Russia has made it clear that arresting its sitting President would be a declaration of war. It would be inconsistent with our Constitution to risk engaging in war with Russia.
I have constitutional obligations to protect, promote and fulfill the rights of the people of the Republic to life, safety and security, among other rights in the Bill of Rights.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa in his previously confidential affidavit regarding Putin’s arrest
The International Criminal Court labelled Putin a wanted man for what it calls credible allegations over his role in war crimes.
Putin is accused of being responsible for the deportation of children in Ukraine into Russia. The allegations were called outrageous and unacceptable by the Kremlin (Russian government).
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