Justice minister welcomes Concourt ruling on ICC application
The Minister of Justice has welcomed the decision of the Constitutional Court to dismiss the application by the DA for direct access in a bid to challenge the Cabinet's decision to withdraw from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The highest court in the land found that the DA and Council for the Advancement of the South African Constitution (CASAC) jumped the gun.
"The application for direct access by the DA and CASAC was premature and ill-advised. They should not have skipped the other courts and run straight to the Constitutional Court," says Justice spokesperson Mthunzi Mhaga.
The dismissal of the application came as Minister Masutha travels to the Hague in Netherlands where he will be making an opening statement during the general debate of fifteenth meeting of the Assembly of States Parties of the ICC.
The DA's James Selfe says the have also put in an application to the North Gauteng High Court.
"We will be asking the North Gauteng High Court to deal with this on an expedited basis, because the clock is ticking and it is necessary for us to conclude this matter within a year so that we can challenge the decision of the South African government to withdraw from this court, which we believe to be unconstitutional, because it does not give proper credence and proper emphasise to the human rights basis of our foreign policy as contained in our constitution," says Selfe.