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President Cyril Ramaphosa asked Russian President Vladimir Putin not to attend the Brics summit but could not announce Putin's non-attendance before receiving support from the Chinese and Indian heads of state.

Ramaphosa, in a supplementary affidavit filed in the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria, said it was "moot" for the Democratic Alliance (DA) to continue its application to compel the government to state whether it would have executed the International Criminal Court's (ICC) arrest warrant on Putin.

This followed the Russian president saying he would not attend the Johannesburg summit next month.

Ramaphosa's supplementary statement was filed on Tuesday before Wednesday's announcement Putin would not attend by "mutual agreement".

The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March for alleged war crimes in Russia's war with Ukraine that began in February last year.

In his affidavit, Ramaphosa said he first asked Putin not to attend Africa's Ukraine-Russia peace summit on 19 June, and the Russian leader said he would "apply his mind" to the request.

Three days later, Ramaphosa added he met with Brazil President Lula da Silva at the Global Financing Pact summit in Paris, France, and lobbied South Africa's position that Putin does not attend the Brics summit, expected to run from 22 to 24 August.

"At this meeting [with Da Silva], the president of Brazil agreed that the preferred option, being that President Putin would not attend the [Brics] summit in person, had his support," he said.

Ramaphosa said the Brics formation worked on "a consensus" and buy-in had to be sought and received from all five member countries before a decision was taken.

"I believe that in these circumstances the DA's application is moot and must be withdrawn," he added.

On Thursday, News24 reported the DA was forging ahead with its application, despite Putin saying he would not attend.

The party's leader, John Steenhuisen, said it sought a declaratory order for this saga not to repeat itself.

"[We] believe that we will continue to court because we believe that the obligation of [the] government needs to be confirmed and because we would like the precedent to be set for any future situations such as this that may [arise]," he said.

On Thursday, Department of International Relations and Cooperation spokesperson Clayson Monyela said the government knew for a month Putin would not physically attend the summit.

Monyela added the delay was due to the ironing out of diplomatic issues.

Ramaphosa had consulted Brics member state leaders of China, Russia, and India.

The president told the court by Tuesday, the department had not managed to arrange a meeting with China President Xi Jinping and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Ramaphosa asked the court to keep his supplementary affidavit confidential so as not to jeopardise the negotiations and consensus-seeking efforts.

The department's director-general, Zane Dangor, in his confirmatory affidavit, told the court contacting Brics heads of state was "time consuming and difficult to arrange" owing to the leaders' schedules.

"Such consultations are always complex, and there is nothing unique about the amount of work needed to arrange them, or the time it takes to finalise such discussions with five heads of state," Dangor said, adding the consultations were finalised on Tuesday.

Putin would attend the summit virtually and be physically represented by his foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov.

The Russian leader's decision had been labelled as reasonable by the Presidency and Russia's most significant political party, United Russia.

The South African Sherpa to Brics, speaking at the media engagement, Professor Anil Sooklal, said Ramaphosa had engaged with Brics leaders regarding Putin's visit.

The Brics ambassador labelled the Russian president's decision not to come as a substantial move which allowed the summit not to face threats of withdrawal like the G20 summit in Indonesia in 2022.

Other world leaders had protested...

The South African rand weakened on Thursday afternoon after the central bank held its key interest rate at 8.25% following 10 consecutive rate hikes since 2021, as expected by a majority of economists polled by Reuters.

At 1323 GMT, the rand traded at 17.915 against the US dollar, around 0.25% weaker than its previous close. At one point it was down as much as 0.53% as the currency reversed gains made earlier in the day.

Twelve out of 21 economists in a Reuters poll published last week expected the bank would hold its rate at 8.25%, while nine economists predicted a 25 bps hike.

The South African Reserve Bank had been on a rate-hiking cycle since September 2021, raising the repo rate by a total of 475 basis points (bps).

Consumer inflation data on Wednesday showed inflation fell to 5.4% year-on-year in June, down from 6.3% in May and back within the central bank's target range of 3% to 6% for the first time in over a year.

"SA June inflation at 5.4% (was) lower than consensus but on our forecast. To us (this) affirms the SARB MPC will not have to hike today," Rand Merchant Bank analysts had said in a research note before the rate decision.

The dollar was up about 0.2% against a basket of global currencies after US jobless claims unexpectedly fell, pointing to strength in the labour market. This raised expectations that Federal Reserve monetary policy will stay tighter for longer, pressuring other currencies globally.

South Africa's benchmark 2030 government bond was slightly stronger, with the yield down 1.5 bps to 10.29%.

Former president Jacob Zuma has extended his trip to Moscow as the Department of Correctional Services (DCS) decides whether he should return to prison.

News24 understands from two sources who have knowledge of Zuma's trip that he was meant to return on Tuesday, but that he extended the trip.

He is seeking medical treatment in the Russian capital, although the details of his illness are unknown.

The DCS said on Wednesday that the department was yet to decide on Zuma's fate.

Jacob Zuma Foundation spokesperson Mzwanele Manyi confirmed that Zuma had not returned from Moscow.

"I don't know when he will be coming back," he said.

Manyi, who is also an Economic Freedom Fighters member of Parliament, said he did not know what Zuma's health condition was.

A source said Zuma planned to return next Wednesday, but Manyi said he could not confirm when the former head of State would return.

Last Thursday, the Constitutional Court dismissed the Department of Correctional Services' application for leave to appeal a Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) ruling that Zuma should return to prison.

The apex court found the department's appeal "bears no reasonable prospect of success" and dismissed the application with costs.

Zuma was jailed in July 2021 after he was sentenced to 15 months for contempt of the Constitutional Court after he refused to obey an order to appear before the Zondo Commission.

However, hardly two months later, he was released on medical parole after then national commissioner of correctional services, Arthur Fraser, overruled the Medical Parole Advisory Board's (MPAB) recommendation that the former president did not qualify.

The Democratic Alliance, AfriForum and Helen Suzman Foundation asked the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria to review Fraser's decision and set it aside, which it did. Zuma and the DCS then appealed, but the SCA upheld the High Court's decision.

The SCA found Zuma "has not finished serving his sentence".

It said: "He must return to the Estcourt Correctional Centre to do so. Whether the time spent by Mr Zuma on unlawfully granted medical parole should be taken into account in determining the remaining period of his incarceration, is not a matter for this court to decide."

"It is a matter to be considered by the commissioner (Makgothi Thobakgale). If he is empowered by law to do so, the commissioner might take that period into account in determining any application or grounds for release."

After the Constitutional Court's decision last week, the SCA's ruling stands.

Russia did not tell South Africa that arresting President Vladimir Putin on an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court (ICC) would mean "war", the Kremlin said on Wednesday.

Shortly after the Kremlin's comments, South Africa said that Putin would not attend a summit of the Brics group of nations in South Africa in August "by mutual agreement."

The ICC has accused Putin and his children's commissioner Maria Lvova-Belova of the war crime of deporting children from Ukraine to Russia, something Moscow rejects as false.

A local court submission published on Tuesday had shown that South African President Cyril Ramaphosa had asked permission from the ICC not to arrest Putin in the context of the Brics summit because to do so would amount to a declaration of war.

Speaking before South Africa said Putin would not be attending, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that everyone understood - without having it explained to them - what an attempt to infringe on Putin's rights would mean.

"No, no such formulations were uttered, no one gave anyone to understand that," said Peskov when asked about any warning from Russia about the possibility of war if Putin was arrested.

"It is clear to everyone in this world what an attempt to infringe on the rights of the head of the Russian State means. So there is no need to explain anything to anyone here."

Annual consumer price inflation slowed dramatically to 5.4% in June from 6.3% in May.

The last time consumer inflation was within the Reserve Bank's target range of 4% to 6% was more than a year ago. This may help to convince the monetary policy committee not to hike interest rates on Thursday.

June's inflation data was also the lowest level in 20 months, Statistics SA reported. The CPI increased by only 0.2% from April to June 2023.

The annual inflation rate for goods was 6.3%, down from 8.0% in May and for services it was 4.5%, down from 4.6% in May.

Lower fuel prices contributed to the much softer inflation number, with annual transport inflation tumbling from 7.0% in May to 1,8% in June, dragged lower mainly by softer fuel prices. The fuel index was 8.3% lower in June 2023 than in June 2022.

Food and non-alcoholic beverages prices also cooled for the third month in a row - from 14% in March to 11% in June. Most food categories saw slower price growth, with some products actually becoming cheaper - the average price of a 750 ml bottle of sunflower oil was R35.57 in June, from almost R44 a year ago, for example.

However, Statistics SA reports that prices for sugar, sweets and desserts increased from 11.9% to 16.4%. Prices for brown sugar (+17.4%), white sugar (up 17.1%) and chocolate slabs (up 16.2%) saw the biggest hikes. Wine (+9.4%) and beer (+5.5%) prices also saw sharper increases.

The latest CPI number shows that residential rent increased by 2.7% in June compared to a year ago. Over the past quarter, rent prices increased by 1.2% - the biggest hike in almost five years.

The Presidency announced on Wednesday that, by mutual agreement, Russian President Vladimir Putin will not attend the fifteenth Summit of Brics nations - Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa - taking place in Johannesburg, in August.

The Russian Federation will be represented by Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

The Democratic Alliance launched a court application in the Gauteng High Court requesting a declaratory order to the effect that if Putin arrives in South Africa to attend the summit, the South African government must immediately detain and surrender him to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which has an arrest warrant out for the Russian President.

The Presidency said this would be the first in-person summit to be held in four years, the last three having been held under the chairmanship of Russia, India and China in virtual format on account of the Covid-19 pandemic.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed South Africa's readiness to host the Summit.

The Presidency noted that Ramaphosa had, in recent months and weeks, held a number of consultations on the hosting of the Summit, with Ramaphosa's most recent consultation taking place on Tuesday night at the Brics Political Party Dialogue underway in Gauteng.

"In due course, a comprehensive statement on the substantive issues to be covered at the Summit and other related foreign policy matters will be issued," said the Presidency.

Ramaphosa expressed confidence that the Summit would be a success and called on the nation to extend the necessary hospitality to the many delegates who would arrive from various parts of the continent and the globe.

A book of tributes to Albert Nolan, the renowned South African Catholic priest, author, theologian and anti-apartheid activist, has been published less than nine months after his death on October 22 last year. Edited by Nolan's fellow Dominicans Mike Deeb, Mark James and Philippe Denis, and published by ATF Press, the 500-page volume includes contributions from 71 of Nolan's friends and contemporaries, including his Dominican brothers and sisters, former students from his days as a Young Christian Students chaplain, as well as colleagues, academics, and political activists.

Archbishop Stephen Brislin, who addressed the book's Cape Town launch on July 8 and was named as one of 21 new cardinals by Pope Francis the very next day, described Nolan as a great intellectual and academic with a special gift for being able to speak and write profound thoughts and ideas in a way that was easily understandable to people. "There was no complicated language disguising or softening what he taught - he was straight forward and to the point. He lived what he taught, especially through his simple lifestyle. Always kind and gentle, he had a wonderful sense of humour," Brislin recalled.

Many of the tributes in the book, Deeb noted during the Gauteng and Cape Town launches, referred to Nolan as a 'prophet', a view that is partly mirrored in the book's own title. However, its full title, 'Reluctant Prophet', is more reflective of who Nolan actually was - especially his humility. Drawn from a documentary interview with the Irish TV company, Radharc, and described in Joseph Dunn's book No Lions in the Hierarchy, Nolan was quoted as saying: "If there's any sense in which (my speaking up) is prophetic, then like Jeremiah I'm a very reluctant prophet, and I wish to God that I didn't have to do it". Deeb went further at the launches by distinguishing Nolan from the traditional view of prophets as people who can come across as serious, grumpy, aggressive and abrasive. "Albert was always so joyful and welcoming even of those who disagreed with him." In his foreword to the book, former Master of the Dominican order Timothy Radcliffe also reflected on Nolan's "simple, whole-hearted joy", recalling a memory of a pub visit some forty years earlier when Nolan came to stay in Blackfriars, Oxford. "[His joy] so overflowed that when the time came for the pub to be closed for the night, the publican invited us to stay on and share some more drinks with him. I had never had that honour before or since."

The book and the launch events also underlined Nolan's commitment to the anti-apartheid struggle, including his unprecedented 1983 request to be excused from taking up the role of Master of the Dominican Order, to which he had been elected, so that he could remain active in his opposition to the system that discriminated against black South Africans. In his contribution, fellow Dominican priest Nicholas Punch recalls how the Dominican Chapter had to vote again to see if they accepted Nolan's reasons for declining, which they duly did. "So, we had to go through the process of electing again! It did not take long for the Irish provincial Damian Byrne to be elected . [Damian] promised obedience not only to the Order and to the pope, but to Albert Nolan. That received a standing ovation! I dare say this was probably the most unusual election in the his­tory of the Dominican Order," Punch writes.

Addressing the Gauteng launch, well-known anti-apartheid activist and theologian Reverend Frank Chikane (who also wrote a chapter in the book) recalled how Nolan and his Catholic network kept him out of the clutches of the notorious apartheid security police when he was once again facing arrest and detention in the 1980s. "I was hidden in convents and community houses and Albert even arranged for me to stay for three months with the Jesuits in Jules Street. The Catholics really took care of me," the ordained Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa minister recalled.

That netwo...

South Africa's Finance Minister rebuffed a call by some in the nation's governing party for him to push the central bank to use measures other than lifting borrowing costs to curb inflation, as he reaffirmed the bank's independence.

The African National Congress (ANC) on Sunday asked Enoch Godongwana to hold urgent talks with the South African Reserve Bank (Sarb) about ways to address the surging cost of living "other than raising interest rates."

The comments come as the ANC gears up campaigning for presidential elections next year, when the party risks losing political support because of weak economic growth, high unemployment and growing inequality.

"I'm not in discussion with the central bank on that matter," Godongwana said Tuesday in an interview with Bloomberg Television at a meeting of Group of 20 finance chiefs in Gandhinagar, India. "The central bank in South Africa, by constitution, is independent and its purpose is defined as that of protecting the value of the currency in the interests of balanced growth."

The Sarb's monetary policy committee has raised its benchmark rate by 475 basis points since November 2021 in a bid to rein in inflation that has been above the 4.5% midpoint of its target range, where it prefers to anchor price-growth expectations, for more than two years.

The central bank is scheduled to announce its next rate decision on Thursday, the day after latest inflation data is released. Economists surveyed by Bloomberg forecast annual price growth slowed to 5.5% in June, compared with 6.3% in May. They expect the Sarb to raise rates by 25 basis points to 8.5%.

Godongwana regularly meets with central bank Governor Lesetja Kganyago to make proposals on the direction of policy. While the ANC has previously called for the central bank's mandate to be broadened to shore up the economy, it has said it's committed to preserving the bank's independence.

Rate Decision

The bank is "required to be in consultation with the minister responsible for finances" under the constitution, "but that doesn't mean the minister responsible for finances can tell them what to do," Godongwana said.

Kganyago said earlier this month that while tight monetary policy is painful, high inflation does even more harm to those who can least afford it.

"Inflation is ravaging the poor," he said in a July 5 interview with Johannesburg-based broadcaster Metro FM. "The rich have got property. They've got shares, and those cushion them against rising inflation."

Those craving relief from elevated borrowing costs should understand that the way to get them is price stability.

"Inflation has got to fall because we know historically that when inflation is low in South Africa, South Africa experiences lower interest rates," Kganyago said. "That is where we should be going."

Godongwana also said the Treasury expects to reduce its economic growth forecast because of frequent power outages in South Africa. The revised estimate will be announced when the finance ministry unveils its medium-term budget statement in October, he said, declining to provide specific numbers. The Treasury forecast in February that the economy will grow 0.9% this year, compared with 2.5% last year.

The fluctuation in electricity output make it hard to make a reliable estimate at this stage, Godongwana said.

As the African National Congress (ANC) expressed confidence in the African peace initiatives led by President Cyril Ramaphosa and seven other heads of State, it also called for a reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC), and the inclusion of the African continent in the global decision-making body.

ANC Deputy President Paul Mashatile was speaking at the Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa (Brics) Political Parties Dialogue in Boksburg, on Tuesday, where he said the party believes that through inclusive multilateralism, with which all Brics members would in principle be aligned, institutions of global governance should be reformed, especially the UNSC.

Mashatile explained that although governments shared a common vision of partnership for mutual accelerated growth, sustainable development and inclusive multilateralism, each government had different levels of economic development and geopolitical positioning "in a world increasingly trying to return ebullience and polarisation of the Cold War".

Mashatile noted that the ANC was encouraged by the show of interest from other countries to join Brics, which he said illustrated that many of the world's citizens saw their future in "a truly multipolar world", which represented global diversity.

"Much of the world now sees survival within institutions such as Brics. This is an affirmation of alternatives to the unipolar world and its effects on the world. The combined influence and potential of Brics cannot be understated, [and] for this reason we should expect the fact that it will have detractors who will, from time to time, throw spanners in the works in order to frustrate us from relealising our goal," said Mashatile.

RUSSIAN WAR

Meanwhile, Mashatile reiterated the ANC's call for a peaceful solution to the Russia/Ukraine conflict by initiating dialogue between Presidents Vladimir Putin and Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

The ANC echoed its anti-war stance which it had asserted since the war began more than a year ago.

"We are for the silencing of the guns in Ukraine [and for] the achievement of genuine peace and the peaceful co-existence between Russia, Ukraine and the neighbourhood," he explained.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has told the High Court in Gauteng that arresting Russian President Vladamir Putin, if he travels to South Africa for the Brics summit in August, would be a declaration of war against Russia.

And the president did not want the public to know that.

However, the court ruled on Tuesday that Ramaphosa and his government's response to the Democratic Alliance's (DA's) legal attempt to force the government to arrest Putin should be made public.

"It would be a reckless, unconstitutional and unlawful exercise of the powers conferred upon the government to declare war with Russia by arresting President Putin," Ramaphosa told the court in his affidavit, which he argued should be kept a secret.

The court disagreed with the Presidency's assertions that Ramaphosa wanted to keep his affidavit secret "to keep the interactions with the ICC [International Criminal Court] on the warrant of arrest against President Putin confidential".

In the affidavit, which has since been made public, Ramaphosa said he did not want to risk waging war with Russia.

"It would be inconsistent with our Constitution to risk engaging in war with Russia. I have constitutional obligations to protect the national sovereignty, peace and security of the republic, and to respect, protect, promote and fulfil the rights of the people of the republic to life, safety and security, among other rights in the Bill of Rights," he said.

In arguing for confidentiality, Ramaphosa quoted a Rome Statute article which states that a requested country "shall keep confidential a request for co-operation and any documents supporting the request confidential, except to the extent that the disclosure is necessary to the execution of the request". South Africa is a signatory to the Rome Statute, which governs the ICC.

Following Tuesday's judgment, the Presidency said that Ramaphosa "was never opposed to making the affidavits public; it was only in compliance with the ICC directive that the Presidency sought to maintain confidentiality on the affidavit".

The High Court order came in response to the DA's application that the government must "take all necessary steps to arrest and detain President Putin for surrender to the ICC" should he arrive for the Brics summit, expected to run from 22 to 24 August in Johannesburg.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Putin in March, accusing him of war crimes relating to Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine since February last year.

The DA is relying on the Supreme Court of Appeal's (SCA) 2015 judgment that it was unlawful for the government not to have arrested Sudan's former president Omar al-Bashir when he attended the African Union summit in June of that year. The ICC had also issued an arrest warrant for Al-Bashir for alleged war crimes he committed during his 26-year reign before being ousted by a 2019 military coup.

Ramaphosa said in his affidavit that the DA's demand for the government to arrest Putin was "incompetent" because "the government of South Africa is not cited as a party to the application, and no relief can therefore be granted against it".

The DA has cited government ministries such as justice, police, international relations and cooperation, as well as the national police commissioner.

The DA disputed Ramaphosa's arguments in its replying affidavit, saying the 2015 SCA Al-Bashir judgment "referred to the cited state functionary as the government".

"For this reason alone, the respondents' complainant is baseless," said Elzanne Jonker, the DA's attorney of record.

She added that Ramaphosa, in his papers, had not claimed that Putin was entitled to immunity from arrest and surrender to the ICC, either internationally or domestically.

"All defences seek to poke holes in the way the DA has brought the case, rather than to assert that, if President Putin arrives, the government is entitled to arrest him. Yet at the same time, the president never clearly states that, he will be arrested," she said.

"Instead, he [Ram...