ICC - Deputy President of South Africa visits the ICC

Deputy President of South Africa visits the ICC

ICC-CPI-20030926-36

 

The Deputy President of South Africa Mr. Jacob Zuma on the 22 of September paid an official visit to the International Criminal Court. He was received by Judge Philippe Kirsch, President of the Court; Mrs. Sylvia Fernández de Gurmendi, Chief of the Cabinet and Special Adviser of the Prosecutor and Mr. Bruno Cathala, Registrar of the Court. 

The Deputy President was accompanied by Mr. Penuel Maduna, Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development. Other members of the delegation present in the meeting were Mrs Priscilla Jana, Ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary of South Africa to the Netherlands; Ms Dolana Maimang, Deputy Director-General, Office of the Deputy President; Mr. Chris Botha, Political Counsellor; Mr. John Jeffrey, Parliamentary Counsellor; Mr. Ismail Coovadia, Chief Director for Western Europe and European Organisations; Adv. Linda Makatini, Legal Advisor to the Deputy-President; and Mrs Lakela Kaunda, Spokesperson to the Deputy President.

President Kirsch set out to the delegation how the building up of the Court is proceeding. General issues regarding Regulations of the Court and the functioning of the Presidency and Chambers were also raised.
Mrs. Fernández, representing the Office of the Prosecutor in the absence of the Prosecutor, Mr. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, explained the structure and functioning of the Office, and updated Mr. Zuma on the decision by the Prosecutor to monitor the situation in Ituri, Democratic Republic of Congo.

Lastly Mr. Bruno Cathala, Registrar of the ICC, set out the key accomplishment and challenges regarding the Registry to date.  In this context, the need to find the right balance between costs and quality of justice was raised.
Finally, Mr. Zuma met a group of four South Africans currently serving the ICC: Mr. Ian Blacker, Chief of Information and Technology Section, Mr. Daniel Duarte de Freitas, Database Technical Assistant and Security Officers:  Ms. Kamini Moodley, Mr. Grant Cronje, and Mr. Darryl Bromfield.

Photographs of the meeting are available here:  1  2

South Africa signed the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court on 17 July 1998 and ratified on 27 November 2000, becoming the 23rd State Party. 

On 26 September 2003, 92 States are parties to the Rome Statute.