'Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni said South Africa had no intention of arresting Russian President Vladimir Putin after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant against him' Eyewitness News, 8 June).
Were any of SA's first three presidents put on trial for supporting another dictator, Mugabe of neighboring Zimbabwe? Mbeki during his tenure promoted alternative remedies such as vinegar rather than antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) which saved the state’s funds at a cost of up to 365,000 lives. Some members of the 99 percent called for him to be tried for crimes against humanity. Was he? Sharpeville II took place on 16 August 2012. With 17 workers killed and 78 wounded by the police, the Marikana Miners’ Massacre was the most lethal use of force by South African security forces against other workers since 1976. Commissioner Phiyega said that the police had acted well within their legislative mandate. Ramaphosa and King Zuma share responsibility for this mass murder. Were there ever plans to put them on trial? In June 2015, while in South Africa for an African Union meeting, the former dictator of Sudan (and one of 15 on the ICC's most wanted list), al-Bashir, was prohibited from leaving while a court decided whether he should be handed over to the ICC for war crimes. Was he?
The answer to all the above is NO! It is futile to punish such odious individuals whilst ignoring the vicious conditions which made them possible. War criminals are not responsible for war, which is caused by the struggles between competing capitalist states over markets and economic resources. War will only end with the abolition of capitalism. The dictators of yesterday, and the dictators and leaders of today, with their frightening military machines, only reflect the preparedness of their workers to ignore the bloodshed of all the conflicts before, during and after the war to end all wars and still to die for capitalism.
