Pretoria - The National Director of Public Prosecutions was on Wednesday “invited” by the High Court in Pretoria to consider whether criminal proceedings should be instituted against the government for allowing Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to leave South Africa in spite of a court order forbidding this.
At a hearing on Wednesday Judge President Dunstan Mlambo said the departure of al-Bashir demonstrated non-compliance with the court’s earlier order that the government had to take all reasonable steps to prevent him from leaving the country.
This was pending the finalisation of an application as to whether the government should arrest him and hand him over to the International Criminal Court (ICC).
Judge Mlambo said government was well aware of this order, which was issued on Sunday, June 14.
It, however, emerged that al-Bashir had already left South Africa by noon on Monday, June 15, while a full bench (three judges) were hearing arguments as to whether the government should arrest him and hand him over to the ICC.
The judges had repeatedly asked counsel acting for government, William Mokhari SC, whether al-Bashir was still in the country, despite media reports that he had left.
Mokhari assured the court that as far as the government was concerned, he was still in the country.
He only told the court three hours after al-Bashir’s plane left Waterkloof Air Force Base in Pretoria that he had left. This was shortly after the court had delivered its judgment in which the government was ordered to immediately arrest al-Bashir.
At that hearing, the government was given until June 25 to explain how the Sudanese leader got away.
On Wednesday, in supplying its reasonsas to why it ordered the government to arrest and hand over al-Bashir, Judges Mlambo and Hans Fabricius and Deputy Judge President Aubrey Ledwaba said the government had an obligation in terms of the Rome Statute to do so.
The court questioned how it was possible that al-Bashir would, with his whole entourage, travel from Sandton to Waterkloof Air Force Base without the knowledge of government.
It was also questioned how the Sudanese plane could take off from the base without the government knowing whether al-Bashir was on board or not.
Pretoria News