Government mulls SA-based peace summit for Putin and Zelenskyy

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South Africa could host a peace summit which would see Russian president Vladamir Putin and Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the country, minister in the presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni has said.

Ntshavheni told a post-cabinet media briefing on Thursday that the government must be ready for this possibility. 

Her statements come after President Cyril Ramaphosa’s weekly Wednesday cabinet meeting discussed the Brics summit scheduled for August.

“[A peace summit is] a possibility and we must be welcoming… we must create a conducive environment,” Ntshavheni said. 

“If we are serious about the ending of that conflict we must be receptive to the possibility of South Africa hosting that summit here. I’m not saying it’s going to happen, but we must prepare ourselves.” 

She said if South Africa was part of an initiative for peace and a venue for a summit was  sought, “the first place you look is within your own backyard to see if we have capacity to host this and if you do have capacity to host this, you then will be ready to host”. 

Pretoria is grappling with how to host Putin for the summit of Brics countries Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa since a warrant for his arrest was issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in March.

The ICC, established by the Rome Statute to which South Africa is a signatory, alleges that Putin is responsible for the unlawful deportation and transfer of children from occupied areas of Ukraine to Russia — a war crime — since 24 February 2022, the day Russia invaded Ukraine.

Ramaphosa and his African counterparts Abdel Fattah el-Sissi of Egypt, Kaikande Hichilema of Zambia, Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, Denis Sassou-Nguesso of the Republic of the Congo, and Macky Sall of Senegal will be travelling to Ukraine and Russia for the first phase of the peace talks this month. 

Ntshavheni said the meeting will likely discuss the terms for Putin and Zelenskyy’s governments to meet at a negotiating table. 

“We want South Africa to be ready to receive all parties including the two presidents, president Zelenskyy and president Putin, if they have to attend the peace discussions,” she said. This could be the clearest indication that Ramaphosa’s government still intends to host Putin despite the ICC warrant.

The Mail & Guardian previously reported that the government is debating whether it should hand over the hosting role to China or neighbouring Mozambique, which is among the African countries, including Egypt and Algeria, that have shown an interest in joining Brics.

An inter ministerial committee chaired by deputy president Paul Mashatile — which Ramaphosa tasked with considering South Africa’s options to host Putin during the Brics summit in August — met on Monday. Ntshavheni said it had taken no decision.

One cabinet minister told the M&G that there were varying opinions about whether South Africa should continue as host nation. They said justice minister Ronald Lamola was clear during Monday’s meeting that South Africa had no legal grounds to host Putin.

The cabinet source added that Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe as well as Finance Minister Enoch Godogwana advocated for the August summit to be co-hosted in China while Ntshavheni herself is said to have called for South Africa to resist being dictated to by the West.

South Africa’s relationship with the West has been strained due to its stated neutral position on the Russia/Ukraine war. Ramaphosa previously said South Africa was being “threatened with penalties” for pursuing an “independent foreign policy” and for adopting a position of non-alignment.

Two government insiders said Ramaphosa is likely to discuss a possible co-hosting of the summit with China’s President Xi Jinping. 

Ntshavheni said Ramaphosa would be calling Xi this week. She said the president would also make a call to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, but she could not confirm when these would take place.   

“What we expect from South Africans is to support the initiative by their government to resolve a conflict that has serious implications for us,” Ntshavheni said, adding that there was a misunderstanding of South Africa’s nonaligned stance.  

“Our nonalignment is because we are in pursuit of peace and we are not in pursuit of peace as spectators, we are in pursuit of peace, actively taking space to get peace.” 

Ntshavheni did not say whether South Africa would rescind its invite to Putin for the August summit, only telling journalists that those who are invited as guests, will be treated as such.

“The interministerial committee is still working and we are considering a number of permutations and proposals and they seek guidance from the cabinet. The cabinet will give them the guidance and we will go back and work further and when that decision is taken, it will be communicated.” 

On whether South Africa would be willing to arrest Putin, she said; “The deputy chairperson of the Security Council of Russia has indicated that anyone who arrests President Putin will be tantamount to a declaration of war. I don’t think this country wants us to declare war with Russia.” 

The M&G reported last week that the government had received the ICC’s arrest warrant for Putin. Speaking to CNN recently, international relations director general Zane Dangor said South Africa would be obligated to act on the warrant if nothing changed between now and the next couple of months. 

“We don’t know whether the engagement we are having with The Hague [ICC headquarters] around whether a waiver has been received from Russia, or whether they need the waiver. So these are the legal technicalities that we need to look at.”Some of the options the government explored included Putin joining the Brics summit virtually, but, as the M&G reported, this has been rejected by Moscow.