DA challenges Cabinet's decision to withdraw from ICC

The party's James Selfe is at the North Gauteng High Court and says the party is challenging the constitutionality and rationality of the government's unilateral decision.

"The judges are taking it very seriously. There is a full bench. They recognise the importance of this issue in terms of international law," says Selfe.

The DA approached the High Court after its application at the Constitutional Court failed in November.

The opposition says government delivered the notice of withdrawal without consulting parliament, the only body that can give the executive a mandate to withdraw from the ICC given the domestic legislative implications such a decision has.

The Constitutional Court found the DA and Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC) jumped the gun by heading directly for the highest court in the land.

Legal representative Stephen Budlender is arguing that this is an important case, since the process to withdraw from the ICC is already in motion.

"This is a case where there is a deadline of October 2017 which has been set for the withdrawal to take effect. South Africa has indeed withdrawn from the Rome Statute. The only thing that is delayed is the effect of that withdrawal," says Budlender.