PICS: Billboard calling for Ramaphosa to arrest Putin erected near Centurion
A billboard along a highway in Centurion simply reads 'President Ramaphosa, arrest Putin', ahead of the BRICS summit set to take place in Johannesburg in August.
JOHANNESBURG - While government continues to deliberate its legal options on Russian President Vladimir Putin's visit to South Africa in August for the BRICS summit, an NGO has put up a billboard calling for his arrest.
A billboard was erected near Centurion at the end of May by Avaaz, calling for President Cyril Ramaphosa to arrest Putin.
South Africa has been faced with a diplomatic dilemma since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Putin, who is supposed to visit the nation for a BRICS meeting in August. Picture: Luca Sola / AFP
Picture: Luca Sola/AFP
As a signatory to the Rome Statute, South Africa has been faced with a diplomatic dilemma since the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Putin.
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The final word on whether Putin will be welcome in South Africa rests with Ramaphosa, Minister of International Relations Naledi Pandor said while hosting foreign affairs ministers of BRICS nations in Cape Town earlier
this week.
Pandor's department announced last month that BRICS delegates would be granted diplomatic immunity, a move they said was routine.
Meanwhile, the African National Congress (ANC) said Russia's leading political party warned that should Putin be arrested in South Africa, the move would be tantamount to a declaration of war.
Despite international pressure to prevent Putin from attending, Minister in the Presidency Vincent Magwenya said Ramaphosa was determined to host a successful BRICS summit, and for it not to be overshadowed by other matters.
