South Africa applying to pull out of ICC ironic

It is quite ironical for South Africa, a country which was the last to be liberated from the yoke of oppressive colonialism, to be among the first African countries, after Burundi, to apply to pull out of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The ICC was established to be the last recourse for the downtrodden, especially in Africa where civil strife abounds due to nascent democratic governance.

In fact, had the ICC been in existence during the apartheid era, South African freedom fighters would have been the first to camp there in search of justice from the ruling white boars.

However, what made South Africa to come to such a hasty decision and yet ICC was considered to have no serious dispute with her except her failure to arrest Sudanese President Al Bashir?

Conspiracy theorists might link the decision to President Jacob Zuma's recent State visit to Kenya, where the pull-out-from-the-ICC agenda could have been hammered out.

Kenya's President Uhuru Kenyatta and his Deputy William Ruto's charges have been deferred until sufficient evidence is made available.

Some months back, President Kenyatta had tried to lobby other African countries to pull out of the International Criminal Court en masse, but that effort appeared to have hit a dead end.

Apparently, the strategy is changing, such that each country will write to the UN expressing its intention of pull out of the court. Then others will follow systematically and individually.

Burundi was the first country to do that, and now South Africa has followed suit. On learning of South Africa's move, our Parliament's leader of majority, Aden Duale, is reported to be raring to introduce a motion seeking Kenya's withdrawal as well.

However, if the UN should insist that any country applying for withdrawal from the Rome Statute, it must then first get majority approval from its citizens through a referendum.