Pretoria - The government could face a double blow if newly appointed National Director of Public Prosecutions, Shaun Abrahams, took up the invitation by the court to consider possible criminal charges against it for allowing Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to leave South-Africa, despite a court order forbidding this.
The SA Litigation Centre (SALC), which asked for the government to be forced to arrest al-Bashir and hand him over to the International Criminal Court, may also bring contempt of court proceedings against the government.
One of the SALC’s lawyers, Angela Mudukuti, said they were awaiting an affidavit from the government after the court last week ordered it to explain how it came about that al-Bashir left the country before the order was handed down. The affidavit is due to be filed today, after which the SALC will consider its position.
The NDPP declined to comment, other than to say it noted that the issue had been referred to it to consider possible criminal charges.
Judge President Dunstan Mlambo of the High Court in Pretoria, meanwhile, 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 until the matter was finalised.
It emerged that al-Bashir had already left South-Africa by noon on Monday, June 15, probably even before the court was due to hear arguments as to whether the government should arrest him and hand him to the ICC.
Three judges hearing the matter repeatedly asked counsel acting for the government, William Mokhari SC, whether al-Bashir was still in the country, despite media reports that he had left. Mokhari repeatedly 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 had left Waterkloof Air Force Base, 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.
“In our view, this is a clear violation of the court order (that he may not leave the country),” Judge Mlambo said.
The ministers in the Presidency and State Security were given seven days to explain themselves. This lapses on Thursday.
In handing down its reasons yesterday for its earlier order compelling the government to arrest al-Bashir, the court questioned how it was possible that al-Bashir could, with his whole entourage, travel from Sandton to Air Force Base Waterkloof, without the knowledge of the government.
It was also questioned how the Sudanese plane could take off from the air force base without the government knowing whether al-Bashir was on board or not. “How would that plane be able to land in Sudan by late afternoon if it had not departed at about noon the same day,” they asked.
The judges said it was necessary to note that the government was bound by the judicial authority and court orders bound everyone, including the government.
The DA said this would be Abrahams’s first test of prosecuting without fear of favour, even when it involved the highest office in the land.
Cope also urged the NDPP to prosecute the government for contempt of court.
Pretoria News