Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development and Others v Southern Africa Litigation Centre and Others

• Jurisdiction: South Africa
• Judge: Lewis JA, Majiedt JA, Ponnan JA, Shongwe JA and Wallis JA
• Judgment Date: 15 March 2016
• Court: Supreme Court of Appeal
• Docket Number: 867/15 [2016] ZASCA 17
• Date: 15 March 2016
• Hearing Date: 12 February 2016
• Counsel: JJ Gauntlett SC (with FB Pelser and L Dzai) for the applicants (appellants). WH Trengove SC (with M du Plessis, I Goodman and H Rajah) for the respondents. D Unterhalter SC (with C Steinberg, A Coutsoudis and N Muwangua) for the first amicus. GM Malindi SC (with N Lewis) for the applicants for admission as second and third amici. J Brickhill for the applicants for admission as fourth and fifth amici.
• Citation: 2016 (3) SA 317 (SCA)

Wallis JA (Majiedt JA and Shongwe JA concurring; Lewis JA and Ponnan JA concurring for separate reasons):

Introduction G

[1] The International Criminal Court (ICC) was established by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (the Rome Statute) to exercise jurisdiction over the most serious crimes of concern to the H international community as a whole. Article V identifies them as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes — collectively international crimes — and defines them in arts VI, VII and VIII, respectively. Article V also foreshadows the crime of aggression, which remains to be defined. The Rome Statute affirms that these crimes must not go unpunished and that their effective prosecution must be ensured by I taking measures at the national level and by enhancing international cooperation. [1] In addition to the jurisdiction of national courts to

Wallis JA (Majiedt JA and Shongwe JA concurring; Lewis JA and Ponnan JA concurring for separate reasons)

prosecute these crimes the Rome Statute confers jurisdiction on the ICC A to try such crimes and convict and sentence those who commit such crimes. It is a matter of pride to citizens of this country that South Africa was the first African state to sign the Rome Statute. It did this on 17 July 1998 and ratified it on 27 November 2000. It incorporated it into the domestic law of South Africa in terms of s 231(4) of the Constitution by B enacting the Implementation of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Act 27 of 2002 (the Implementation Act). The Rome Statute is annexed to the Implementation Act as a matter of information.

[2] Chapter 4 of the Implementation Act provides the mechanism C whereby South Africa co-operates with the ICC in regard to the arrest and surrender of persons accused of international crimes. The failure by the applicants, to whom I shall, in accordance with the terminology of their counsel, refer collectively as the government, to pursue those mechanisms to arrest the President of Sudan, Omar Hassan Ahmad al Bashir (President Al Bashir), when he was in Johannesburg on 14 and 15 June 2015 to attend the 25th ordinary session of the Assembly of the African Union D (AU), gave rise to the present litigation.

[3] President Al Bashir is a controversial figure as a result of the actions of his government and their supporters, such as the Janjaweed Militia, principally in Darfur but also elsewhere in Sudan. On 31 March 2005 the Security Council of the United Nations adopted Resolution E 1593 (2005). It noted the report of the International Commission of Inquiry on violations of international humanitarian law and human- rights law in Darfur, and decided to refer the situation in Darfur since 1 July 2002 to the Prosecutor of the ICC. As a result of the investigations by the ICC, President Al Bashir stands accused of serious international F crimes. The Pre-Trial Chamber of the ICC has issued two warrants for his arrest. The first warrant was issued on 4 March 2009 and related to charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity. The second warrant was issued on 12 July 2010 and related to charges of genocide. The warrants have been forwarded to all countries that are parties to the Rome Statute, including South Africa, with a request that they G co-operate under the Rome Statute and cause President Al Bashir to be arrested and surrendered to the ICC. Sudan is not a party to the Rome Statute.

[4] When President Al Bashir arrived in South Africa to attend the AU H assembly in June 2015 the government took no steps to arrest him. Indeed it adopted, and continues to adopt, the stance that it was obliged not to do so as President Al Bashir enjoyed immunity from such arrest. I will revert to the grounds for it taking this stance in due course. Its failure to do so resulted in the respondent, the South African

Wallis JA (Majiedt JA and Shongwe JA concurring; Lewis JA and Ponnan JA concurring for separate reasons)

A Litigation Centre (SALC), bringing an urgent application on Sunday 14 June 2015, in the Gauteng Division of the High Court, Pretoria (to which I shall refer as the High Court), seeking orders declaring the failure to take steps to arrest President Al Bashir to be in breach of the Constitution and to compel the government to cause President Al Bashir to be arrested and surrendered to the ICC to stand trial pursuant to the B two warrants.

[5] The government opposed the urgent application and sought and obtained a postponement until 11h30 on Monday 15 June 2015 to enable affidavits to be prepared. But there was an obvious concern that C President Al Bashir might leave the country in the interim in order to escape arrest. Accordingly, in granting the postponement, the High Court made the following order:

'1.

President Omar Al Bashir of Sudan is prohibited from leaving the Republic of South Africa until a final order is made in this application, and the respondents are directed to take all necessary D steps to prevent him from doing so.

2.

The eighth respondent, the Director-General of Home Affairs is ordered:

2.1

to effect service of this order on the official in charge of each and every point of entry into, and exit from, the Republic; and

2.2

E once he has done so to provide the applicant with proof of such service, identifying the name of the person on whom the order was served at each point of entry and exit.'

[6] At the hearing the following day before a specially constituted full court of three judges presided over by Judge President Mlambo, it stood F down further because the affidavits were not yet ready. The hearing commenced at about 13h00 and the court sought the assurance from counsel then leading for the government, Mr W Mokhari SC, that President Al Bashir was still in the country. He informed the court that according to his instructions President Al Bashir was still in the country and this was repeated during the course of the argument. At about G 15h00 the court made the following order:

'1.

That the conduct of the respondents to the extent that they have failed to take steps to arrest and/or detain the President of the Republic of Sudan Omar Hassan Ahmad Al Bashir (President Bashir), is inconsistent with the Constitution of the Republic of H South Africa, 1996, and invalid.

2.

That the respondents are forthwith compelled to take all reasonable steps to prepare to arrest President Bashir without a warrant in terms of s 40(1)(k) of the Criminal Procedure Act 51 of 1977 and detain him pending a formal request for his surrender from the International Criminal Court.

3.

I That the applicant is entitled to the cost of the application on a pro-bono basis.'

[7] Immediately after this order was made counsel for the government told the court that President Al Bashir had left the country earlier that day. According to an affidavit later filed by the director-general: home J affairs, the eighth applicant, he appears to have left on a flight from

Wallis JA (Majiedt JA and Shongwe JA concurring; Lewis JA and Ponnan JA concurring for separate reasons)

Waterkloof Air Base at about 11h30 that morning. The affidavit failed to A explain how a head of state, using a military air base reserved for the use of dignitaries, could possibly have left the country unobserved. The director-general said that President Al Bashir's passport was not among those shown to officials of his department, but as an explanation that is simply risible. Senior officials representing government must have B been aware of President Al Bashir's movements and his departure, the possibility of which had been mooted in the press. In those circumstances the assurances that he was still in the country given to the court at the commencement and during the course of argument were false. There seem to be only two possibilities. Either the representatives of C government set out to mislead the court and misled counsel in giving instructions, or the representatives and counsel misled the court. Whichever is the true explanation, a matter no doubt being investigated by the appropriate authorities, it was disgraceful conduct.

[8] Largely because of President Al Bashir's departure the High Court D refused leave to appeal, saying that the litigation had become moot. On petition this court ordered that the application for leave to appeal be set down for argument in terms of the provisions of s 17(2)(d) of the Superior Courts Act 10 of 2013. The President of this court directed that it be set down as an urgent matter before the commencement of the court's term. The parties were directed to deliver a full record and to be E prepared to address full argument to us on the merits of the case. It is on that basis that the case is before us.

Litigation history

[9] The foundation for SALC's argument before the High Court was the F obligations undertaken by South Africa in terms of the Rome Statute and the Implementation Act. It contended that, by virtue of these, South Africa was obliged to give effect to the request of the ICC to enforce the two warrants for President Al Bashir's arrest and surrender to the ICC for prosecution in respect of the charges of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. Perhaps anticipating resistance by the government, it G annexed to its founding affidavit a judgment delivered by the Pre-Trial Chamber of the ICC on 13 June 2015 declaring that South Africa was obliged to arrest and surrender President Al Bashir. [2]

[10] The government did not make any attempt to challenge these H propositions. Instead it founded its defence to the application on certain special arrangements that it had made with the AU for the holding of the assembly in Johannesburg. These were explained in detail in affidavits by

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