The Dutch Reformed Church in South Africa is of the view that threatening to drag President Emmerson Mnangagwa and his government to the International Criminal Court (ICC) over human rights violations will not work.
In a position paper that the church officials Braam Hanekom and Llewellyn MacMaster released, there should be a win-win approach rather than the traditional opposition politics. The paper reads in part:
Amnesty and assurance that the International Criminal Court will not strike out at senior government officials are important. Otherwise, a ‘fight-to-the-end’ scenario is definitely on the table. Traditional opposition politics will not function now.
Pressure alone, however, won’t work because you are dealing with a military situation that only knows one form of action. What is required is influenced by people who do not necessarily want to overthrow a government, but are level-headed and creating a win-win situation.
At this stage, we are pleading for intervention from institutions like the office of the Archbishop in Cape Town, the South African Council of Churches, the National Church Leaders Consultation, the South African and international governments.
South African opposition party, the Democratic Alliance recently threatened to take the Zimbabwe issue to the United Nations and the ICC.