Revealed: Putin agreed in June not to come to summit, but Ramaphosa had to consult BRICS partners before going public

An additional affidavit filed by President Cyril Ramaphosa in the DA’s court application demanding that South Africa should arrest Russian President Vladimir Putin if he comes to the country, reveals that Ramaphosa started consultations with BRICS heads of state about the issue after bilateral talks with Putin on the sidelines of the African Peace Mission in June in St Petersburg, Russia. 

Ramaphosa first spoke to Brazilian President Lula da Silva about the matter on the sidelines of the Summit for a New Global Financing Pact in Paris, held on 22 and 23 June. However, the President wanted his affidavit to be kept confidential until after he spoke to the Chinese and Indian heads of state. 

“At this meeting, the President of Brazil agreed that the preferred option, being that President Putin would not attend the summit in person, had his support,” Ramaphosa said in his affidavit.

“This was soon after my trip to Russia as part of the Africa Heads of State Peace Mission on 19 June 2023.

“To sum up the position: I have had consultations with the President of Brazil, and the President of Russia. Dirco [Department of International Relations and Cooperation] has been making every effort to ensure that I get an audience with the President of China [Xi Jinping], as well as the Indian Prime Minister [Narendra Modi],” Ramaphosa’s affidavit reads.

“Until I am able to, I ask this court and DA to please keep this affidavit confidential. The Brics works on the basis of consensus. Releasing the content of this affidavit before I have had the opportunity to speak with my India and Chinese counterparts may strain diplomatic relations between South Africa and those countries, and also be in violation of the consensus model of the Brics. I really do not wish for that to happen,” reads the affidavit, which Ramaphosa signed on July 18.

On Tuesday, the DA won its bid to unseal the President’s confidential affidavits along with all its supporting documents.

In the first affidavit, which was released on Tuesday, Ramaphosa set out that South Africa would have issues executing the request to arrest Putin and was aware of the dire implications — including the risk of war with Russia — if the country were to contribute towards his arrest. 

Ramaphosa explained that South Africa had initiated Article 97 proceedings of the Rome Statute, which allow for consultation with the International Criminal Court (ICC) if a problem is identified that could potentially impede or prevent the execution of an ICC request, such as one to arrest and surrender an ICC suspect.