This is revealed in Ramaphosa’s “confidential answering affidavit” which was made public following an order of the High Court in Pretoria on Tuesday.
The DA is taking the South African government to court seeking an order to compel the arrest of Putin in South Africa, should he come to South Africa for the BRICS summit next month.
This comes after the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued an arrest warrant against Putin for alleged war crimes.
In his affidavit, President Ramaphosa states that South Africa has obvious problems with executing the arrest and surrender of President Putin. Ramaphosa says that it would be inconsistent with the Constitution to risk engaging in war with Russia.
He adds that he has constitutional obligations to protect the national sovereignty, peace and security of the republic as well as to respect, protect and promote the rights of the people of the Republic.
