Cape Town - Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane said on Sunday he would ask Public Protector Thuli Madonsela to investigate who authoritised the use of state funds to enable Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir to flee arrest in South Africa last week.
“The DA will request a full investigation by the Public Protector to determine who was responsible, “ Maimane said.
“It cannot be right that domestic and international laws are flouted to protect an alleged war criminal and human rights violator while the government of President Zuma remains silent and avoids answering pertinent questions.”
He added that DA MPs would put also put these questions to International Relations Minister Maite Nkoana-Mashabane when she appears before a parliamentary portfolio committee on Tuesday, ahead of a debate in the National Assembly on the matter.
“As a minister in the South African Cabinet she has a duty to uphold the Constitution, not the wishes of the African Union and its chairperson, President Robert Mugabe.
“These steps will provide an invaluable opportunity for government to shed some light on the events that led to Al-Bashir’s departure.”
Sunday press reports ministers in the security cluster drew up a plan some days before Bashir arrived in the country for the African Union summit last weekend to give him safe passage in and out of South Africa in defiance of two open warrants for his arrest issued by the International Criminal Court.
He is wanted for crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide in the Darfur conflict.
City Press also reported that the ANC had taken a decision to ask the government to suspends its membership of the ICC.
Bashir left South Africa on Monday, hours before the Pretoria High Court ordered that the arrest warrants be effected by local authorities.
Said Maimane: “”The president and the executive cannot simply ignore the law as they see fit.
ANA