President Cyril Ramaphosa has confirmed that the inter-ministerial committee dealing with the issue of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s attendance at the BRICS summit in August, met on Monday, and could submit its report to Cabinet by Wednesday.
Deputy President Paul Mashatile was appointed by Ramaphosa to chair the IMC on Putin's visit.
Ramaphosa said the decision of whether Putin will come or not will in the end lie with him and he would make an announcement on it.
Putin is one of the BRICS leaders expected to attend the summit in Johannesburg.
BRICS Foreign Ministers met in Cape Town last week where they invited 12 other countries to join BRICS.
Egypty, Uruguay and the United Arab Emirates were announced as new members of the BRICS Bank.
It was expected that Argentina’s membership for the bank would be announced at the summit.
Saudi Arabia is one of several countries that is expected to join the BRICS bloc and its foreign minister was in Cape Town last week.
Ramaphosa, who was hosting President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa of Portugal in Pretoria on Tuesday, said the issue of Putin will be well handled.
“Much of what you hear being said around is really just talk. As I said in one press conference, in the end you will hear from me. I will be the one who will say this is what is going to happen,” said Ramaphosa.
He said those who are going to court must note that the president or executive has the function to invite heads of state.
This was in reference to the official opposition going to the High Court in a bid to block Putin from coming to South Africa.
“I have noted that some people have gone to court, but in the end matters of conducting foreign policy and matters of inviting whoever, like we invited president De Sousa, is a function of the executive. It’s not the function of other people outside the executive. It is the government, it is the president who invites other heads of state. That function is not devolved to any other person,” said Ramaphosa.
He said the IMC led by Mashatile will be submitting its report and a decision will be taken on what the next step should be.
“The inter-ministerial committee met yesterday and obviously they are still finalising their minutes and their report and their report will be presented to the appropriate structure, me first and thereafter either go to Cabinet tomorrow or another day. What I can guarantee is that this matter will be well handled and I will make the announcement,” said Ramaphosa.
He also said when he met with the leaders from the five African countries on Monday regarding their peace plan, will be travelling to Moscow and Kyiv.
He said their message will be clear to both Putin and Ukraine leader Volodymyr Zelensky that they need to sit at the negotiating table to find peace.
The African leaders were also concerned about the impact of the war on the high food prices.
He said there would not be a winner in the war and the two sides needed each other to find a lasting solution.
siyabonga.mkhwanazi@inl.co.za
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